Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction and synthesis / Andrés Solimano -- Economic growth in Latin America in the late twentieth century : evidence and interpretation / Andrés Solimano, Raimundo Soto -- Economic growth in the southern countries / Juan S. Blyde, Eduardo Fernández-Arias -- Economic growth in the Andean region : the role of economic and governance factors / Claudio Aravena, André A. Hoffman, Andrés Solimano -- Economic growth in Central America / Manuel R. Agosin, Roberto Machado -- Changing growth constraints in northern Latin America / Jaime Ros -- Economic growth in Latin America : the role of investment and other growth sources / Mario A. Gutiérrez.

Economic growth in Latin America and the rise of material welfare has lagged behind that of more dynamic areas of the world economy. In a region prone to policy experiments, the policies of the Washington Consensus applied since the 1990s failed to bring sustained growth to most of Latin America. Andrés Solimano and an impressive set of contributors analyze the last 40 years in order to determine the role of economic reforms, external conditions, factor accumulation, income inequality, political instability and productivity in explaining GDP increases. The book also looks at cycles of growth, identifying periods of rapid growth and contrasting them with periods of stagnation and collapse.