Old and New Developmentalism in Latin America: Social Order, Social Policy, and Utopias Fifty Years Later

NICOLÁS DVOSKIN

Efil Journal of Economic Research

Efil Publishing

Año: 2022 vol. 5 p. 29 - 41

1960s’ and 1970s’ Latin American development policies were guided by economic purposes,but there were strong utopias beneath them: a full-employment economy with social protection and accelerated technological progress. An expected trend towards social equalitywas not uncommon. At the beginning, there was even a belief on a sort of developmentalistspill-over: growth and industrialization would lead to universal well-being. After 30 yearsof undisputed neoliberalism a new developmentalist era arose. Social protection, economicdevelopment, and industrialization returned. But were the utopias the same as before? Inthis paper we argue that despite economic similarities, social utopias were very different.