Latin America’s Growth: Looking through the Demand Glass

This paper revisits the historical roots of Latin America’s disappointing growth using a novelmacro and trade-based growth decomposition and a simple model of industrialization in a commodities-exportingcountry with a large informal sector. The approach suggests the need to better qualify two opposite narratives: that thepost-1982 (“neoliberal”) reforms have failed, and it is time to look back to the import substitution industrializationera for policy inspiration; and that the post-1982 reforms went in the right direction but must be completed to unleashsignificant productivity gains. Both can be misleading because they downplay the role of demand. The apparent“miracle” of import substitution industrialization does not provide a realistic point of comparison because it reflectedan unsustainable, demand-induced boost in productivity. And the gains expected from Washington Consensus-style reformsalone can be overstated because they are derived from overly restrictive assumptions on demand. By allowing demand toplay a more central role, the paper finds a close and revealing relationship between the growth patterns followedby Latin American countries, the quality of their macroeconomic policies, the nature of their trade, and thesegmentation of their labor markets. Going forward, the policy agenda calls for an outwardly oriented growthstrategy, supported by a more proactive role for the state that promotes not only efficiency in supply, but also theappeal to demand.