Roots of Underdevelopment

“How can it be that Latin America is so poor when its governments over the past two centuries have experimented with just about every known model of economic development? Read this book and learn how a new generation of Latin Americanist social scientists, using frontier empirical methods and systematically gathered data, provide an answer based on the region’s social and political organization since the 16th century.” —Stephen Haber, A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University “A phenomenal synthesis with new insights on the roots of Latin American political economy. A vital read to grasp the origins of macroeconomic management and populism, the stubbornly high inequality, and social tensions.” —Elias Papaioannou, Professor of Economics, London Business School “This fantastic new book maps the latest and most interesting methodological advances in the fields of historical economics and historical political economy onto the history of Latin America. The result is a fascinating new understanding of the persistent effects of historical phenomena in the region – including institutional and cultural changes – on each country’s path to development and economic prosperity, or lack thereof.” —Alberto Bisin, Professor of Economics, New York University This book brings together world-renowned experts and rising scholars to provide a collection of chapters examining the long-term impact of historical events on modern-day economic and political developments in Latin America. It, uses a novel approach, stressing empirical contributions and state-of-the-art empirical methods for causal identification. Contributing authors apply these cutting-edge tools to their topics of expertise, giving readers a compendium of frontier research in the region. Important questions of colonialism, migration, elites, land tenure, corruption, and conflict are examined and discussed in an approachable style. The book features a conclusion from Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University. This book is critical reader for scholars and students of economic history, political science, political economy, development studies, and Latin American, and Caribbean studies. Felipe Valencia Caicedo is Assistant Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a Research Affiliate of CEPR. His primary research interests are in economic history, development economics, and economic growth, with an emphasis on Latin America.