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The Latin American Development Problem

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Author Info
Diego Restuccia

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Abstract

By international standards, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Latin America is low -- around one fifth of that of the United States. Moreover, in the last five decades, Latin America has failed to catch-up in wealth to the level of the United States while other countries at similar or even lower stages of development have been successful. The failure to attain higher levels of relative income represents what I call the development problem of Latin America. Using a variety of data, I find that the bulk of the difference in GDP per capita between Latin America and the United States is explained by low GDP per worker and, in particular, low total factor productivity (TFP) in Latin America. I calculate that to explain the difference in GDP per worker, TFP in Latin America must be around 60 percent of the level in the United States. I consider a model with heterogeneous production units where institutions and policy distortions lead to a 60 percent productivity ratio between Latin America and the United States. Removing the barriers to productivity can increase long-run relative GDP per worker in Latin America by a factor of 4. This increase is equivalent to 70-years worth of U.S. post WW-II development.

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Paper provided by University of Toronto, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number tecipa-318.

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Length: 46 pages
Date of creation: 14 May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-318

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Postal: 150 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario
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Related research
Keywords: labor productivity capital schooling plant heterogeneity policy distortions

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O1 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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References listed on IDEAS
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  3. Andres Erosa & Tatyana Koreshkova & Diego Restuccia, 2007. "How Important is Human Capital? A Quantitative Theory Assessment of World Income Inequality," Working Papers tecipa-280, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Raphael Bergoeing & Patrick J. Kehoe & Timothy J. Kehoe & Raimundo Soto, 2002. "A Decade Lost and Found: Mexico and Chile in the 1980s," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 166-205, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Margarida Duarte & Diego Restuccia, 2007. "The Role of the Structural Transformation in Aggregate Productivity," Working Papers tecipa-300, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Cole, Harold L. & Ohanian, Lee E. & Riascos, Alvaro & Schmitz, James Jr, 2005. "Latin America in the rearview mirror," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 69-107, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bergoeing, Raphael & Loayza, Norman & Repetto, Andrea, 2004. "Slow recoveries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 473-506, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation Of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Margarida Duarte & Diego Restuccia, 2007. "The structural transformation and aggregate productivity in Portugal," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 23-46, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Restuccia, Diego & Urrutia, Carlos, 2001. "Relative prices and investment rates," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 93-121, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2007. "Policy Distortions and Aggregate Productivity with Heterogeneous Plants," Working Papers tecipa-283, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Galindo, Arturo & Schiantarelli, Fabio & Weiss, Andrew, 2007. "Does financial liberalization improve the allocation of investment?: Micro-evidence from developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 562-587, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Veracierto, Marcelo, 2001. "Employment Flows, Capital Mobility, and Policy Analysis," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(3), pages 571-95, August.
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  19. Ariel Burstein & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2007. "Foreign Know-How, Firm Control, and the Income of Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 13073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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