CEPAL Review - Volume 1991, Issue 43, 1991

The topic which has brought us together at this Round Table organized by flacso is by no means a trivial one. To begin with, the crisis which the Latin American societies have had to live through and the dizzy pace of the changes which are taking place in the world have brought into question all the traditional approaches of the social sciences. In this respect, it is necessary to reflect seriously on the basic premises of the various disciplines as well as on interdisciplinary co-operation in order to tackle social realities. Secondly, an analysis of the specific topic which has brought us together here (the relation between the social sciences and democratization) is particularly appropriate in the current Latin American context of the rebirth of democracy.

This article examines the drop in the per capita product of the region from 1981 onwards due hotli to the stagnation of per capita production capacity and the fact that the effective product was less than the potential product. Production capacity stagnated because investment fell to levels which were not high enough to ensure growth in the potential per capita product. This decline in investment, in turn, was due basically to the net transfers of resources abroad caused by the debt crisis and the severe deterioration in the terms of trade as from 1982.

This article explores Latin America’s prospects with regard to international finance and trade in the 1990s. It is concluded that the external environment will probably be unfavourable, although there will be some opportunities for supporting the region’s structural adjustment processes.

The contribution of science and technology to development is one of the dominant topics in these final years of the twentieth century. In the new form of industrial development, research and technological progress are indispensable for ensuring greater international competitiveness.

This article analyzes the economic effects which the Europe of 1992 could have on the countries of Latin America. It examines the main factors which led to the signing of the Single European Act in 1985, such as the loss of competitiveness of the European economies, the slow recovery of the European Economic Càimmunity (rrc) after the two oil crises, and the rigid politico-institutional system of the Community.

This iiriide explores the changes in sources of competitiveness in the exports of small countries to the industrialized market economies between 1978 and 1988.

Rcstructring and the incorporation of modern technology are crucial in order to increase productivity and develop international competitiveness in Latin American industries.

The external debt of Chile originated in various economic and social sectors and its territorial distribution was highly concentrated. The conversion of that external debt has involved a sectoral and regional reassignment of resources which has been reflected in marked territorial change. There is no direct correspondence between the economic and social geography of the debt on the one hand and that of the conversion process on the other.

The free market philosophy is having a strong influence on policy design and economic strategies in the Latin American countries, and this can lead to erosion of State action in favour of marginated groups as a result of mistakenly entrusting the task of redistribution to the “invisible hand” of the market.

This article focuses on one of the lesser-known facets of the vast and fruitful work of Raúl Prebisch in the field of Latin American economics: i.e,, the work he did in the early 1950s on training in agricultural development plans and projects, at a time when this activity had barely begun in the countries of the region, at least on an organic and systematic basis.

This ceremony, at which Dr. Celso Furtado is being invested with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa, is above all an act of justice.