CEPAL Review - Volume 1989, Issue 38, 1989

The central problem in macroeconomics is to determine to what extent variations in aggregate demand will fall exclusively on prices, or whether they will also have an impact on output. The Phillips curve was one answer to this question, but when this attempt at synthesis failed, the issue was reopened.

In this article the author examines recent trends in the coefficient of domestic saving —or the unconsumed portion of the product— in the region. He shows how it has stagnated in relation to the saving prevalent before the external debt crisis, despite the sharp decline in per capita consumption. In other words, consumption and the product have fallen in a parallel fashion. Thus austerity has been useless in raising the coefficient of saving, which would have kept the turnaround produced by the net transfer of resources abroad —which must be financed with domestic saving— from in turn resulting in a total loss of available financing for investment.

The countries of Central America are often described as open economies because the ratio of trade to gross domestic product (GDP) is high. During the 1980s, the ratio of exports to gross regional product in Central America has averaged 23% and the ratio of imports to gross regional product (29%) is even higher. A large (but declining) portion of this trade consists of the exchange of manufactures among countries of the region. Still, there can be no doubt that the economies are very open by this measure.

The events of the last few years in Latin America have made it necessary to resume the discussion on the role of the State in the development of the region.

How a collectivity deals with nature discloses as much about its internal social relations as the other way around. The present inquiry is a prologue to more detailed study of ecopolitics, to the study of the political philosophy of relations between human beings and nature, exploring the feasibility of integrating the knowledge of the social and of the natural sciences on the interchange between human activities and the cycles of nature. It is also an introduction to the study of a specific type of public policies, those that address issues of resource use and conservation, and the quality of life, especially in the so-called developing countries.

Costa Rica’s significant achievements in social development have been closely linked to the democratic government and its economic and social policies based on effective consensus. Until the late 1970s, these policies notably included wage increases and, despite the increasingly regressive tax structure, social spending with a redistributive effect.

Ecuador is one of those developed countries which has experienced the greatest economic changes and at the same time the highest rates of infant mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy, morbidity and overcrowding.

This paper identifies the effects of natural disasters on economic development and living conditions in the Latin American and Caribbean region. On the basis of quantitative analyses and undertaken to assess the damage caused by the main natural disasters which have occurred in the region during the past 16 years, the author justifies the undertaking of preventive, planning and preparedness measures to reduce the impact of disasters.

In this article the author undertakes a comparative analysis of two economic approaches: institutionalism and structuralism. In so doing, he examines the origin and development of both schools of thought and explores a number of ways in which they might enrich one another. So far, neither of these schools has demonstrated much familiarity with the views of the other, and this is especially true of structuralists’ knowledge of institutionalism —a situation which should be rectified.