Is Latin America an Economic Failure? From Narratives to Data | Center For Global Development

A widespread notion in European capitals is that Latin America is an economic failure: a highly volatile region, prone to all kind of recurrent crises, and unable to develop and sustain a dynamic of convergence towards the income levels of advanced economies, as the Asian Tigers did. To paraphrase a well-known saying about Brazil, the established perception is that “Latin America is a land of the future and it always will be.” Data shows this view is biased and does not match reality. First, progress in macroeconomic management over the last 20 years has been very significant and the results are notable. An entire Latin American generation has grown up in an environment of low and relatively stable inflation, reasonably sound public finances, and regulatory and supervisory frameworks that have led to the strong financial systems the region has today. One striking achievement is the reduction in the frequency of exchange rate, sovereign debt, and financial crises: from an average of fou

A widespread notion in European capitals is that Latin America is an economic failure: a highly volatile region, prone to all kind of recurrent crises, and unable to develop and sustain a dynamic of convergence towards the income levels of advanced economies, as the Asian Tigers did. To paraphrase a well-known saying about Brazil, the established perception is that “Latin America is a land of the future and it always will be.” Data shows this view is biased and does not match reality. First, progress in macroeconomic management over the last 20 years has been very significant and the results a