This paper explores the connections between independence and Latin America’s relative decline during the half a century after independence. The release of the fiscal burden was partly offset by higher costs of self-government, while opening up to the international economy represented a...

How has Latin America's wellbeing evolved over time? How does Latin America compare to today's developed countries (OECD, for short)? What explains their differences? These questions are addressed using an historical index of human development. A sustained improvement in wellbeing can be...

Argentine export growth before the First World War is considered one of the most relevant variables in order to understand the main characteristics of Argentina’s long-run modern economic growth properly. The lack of accuracy of the official export series, especially the relative official...

Latin America’s economic performance is mediocre at best, despite abundant natural resources and flourishing neighbors to the north. The perplexing question of how some of the wealthiest nations in the world in the nineteenth century are now the most crisis-prone has long puzzled economists...

How has Latin America's wellbeing evolved over time? How does Latin America compare to today's developed countries (OECD, for short)? What explains their differences? These questions are addressed using an historical index of human development. A sustained improvement in wellbeing can be...