Roots of Underdevelopment

This book brings together world-renowned experts and rising scholars to provide a collection of chapters examining the long-term impact of historical events on modern-day economic and political developments in Latin America. It uses a novel approach, stressing empirical contributions and state-of-the-art empirical methods for causal identification. Contributing authors apply these cutting-edge tools to their topics of expertise, giving readers a compendium of frontier research in the region. Important questions of colonialism, migration, elites, land tenure, corruption, and conflict are examined and discussed in an approachable style. The book features a conclusion from Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University. 

This book is critical reader for scholars and students of economic history, political science, political economy, development studies, and Latin American, and Caribbean studies.

“This fantastic new book maps the latest and most interesting methodological advances in the fields of historical economics and historical political economy onto the history of Latin America. The result is a fascinating new understanding of the persistent effects of historical phenomena in the region - including institutional and cultural changes - on each country's path to development and economic prosperity, or lack thereof.” (Alberto Bisin, Professor of Economics at New York University and co-editor of the Handbook of Historical Economics)

“A book on the economic history of Latin America, very much rooted in the 21st century. With a fresh approach, this book belongs to the collection of any economist and historian interested in Latin America. By incorporating the advances from recent decades in identifying causal effects, the chapters in this book provide new insights on and new evidence related to well-known debates.” (Eduardo Engel, Professor of Economics, Universidad de Chile, former president of LACEA, and Chile’s Presidential Anti-Corruption Council)

“Latin American economic history is one of the most fascinating fields in economic history. Why has Latin America not converged to the income per capita level of advanced economies as East Asia has done? Why has Latin America suffered so much economic instability? Why is inequality so high? In this book, an outstanding group of leading world researchers shows how the modern approach to economic history can help us answer these questions by looking at the roots of historical development and their transmission mechanisms. This book is an absolute ‘must’ in the library of any economist or historian interested in Latin American Economic History.” (Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Professor of Economics, Director of the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets, and Co-Director of The Business, Economic and Financial History Project at the University of Pennsylvania)

“How can it be that Latin America is so poor when its governments over the past two centuries have experimented with just about every known model of economic development? Read this book and learn how a new generation of Latin Americanist social scientists, using frontier empirical methods and systematically gathered data, provide an answer based on the region's social and political organization since the 16^th century.” (Stephen Haber, A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University)

“The experts in this invaluable collection bring rigorous historical analysis to bear on a wide range of development issues across Latin America and the Caribbean. By exploring the deep forces that have constrained and conditioned policy and performance in the past, the volume offers the possibility, if not to escape them, to better comprehend the barriers they present to constructing the more dynamic and equitable economies of the future.” (William Maloney, Chief Economist for the regions of Latin America and Caribbean at the World Bank)

“A phenomenal synthesis with new insights on the roots of Latin American political economy. A vital read to grasp the origins of macroeconomic management and populism, the stubbornly high inequality, and social tensions.”(Elias Papaioannou, Professor of Economics and Academic Codirector of the Wheeler Institute for Business and Development at London Business School, coeditor of The Long Economic and Political Shadow of History, and Joint Managing Editor of The Review of Economic Studies)

“A path-breaking volume that provides fundamental insights into the deep roots of development—and underdevelopment—of economies across the entirety of Latin America. Roots of Underdevelopment is sure to become the go-to text for those interested in the historical determinants of Latin American economic development and politics.”(Jared Rubin, Professor of Economics at Chapman University and author of How the World Became Rich and Rulers, Religion, and Riches)

“This book constitutes a hugely impressive contribution to our understanding of the historical political economy of Latin America. There is really no existing book to match this one in terms of both the scope and depth of coverage. The distinguished list of contributors is testament to the editor’s determination to produce a book that will be widely cited and used in the classroom.” (Shanker Satyanath, Professor of Politics at New York University)

“A superbly curated volume of illuminating essays on the historical roots of economic [under]development in Latin America. This is new economic history at its best: data-driven, rigorous, engaged and indispensable reading to understand the challenges the continent faces today.” (Moritz Schularick, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris, President of the Kiel Institute, Director of the MicroFinance Lab)

“This fascinating and innovative book brings together contributions by leading scholars who use cutting-edge empirical methods to study different aspects of development in sixteen Latin American societies. The volume also provides the big picture in a magisterial introduction by Felipe Valencia Caicedo and a broad historical overview by Luis Bértola and José Antonio Ocampo. These studies—weaving together past and present, deeply-rooted factors and more recent changes—will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the diversity and complexity of Latin American development in light of contemporary research in political economy and economic history.” (Enrico Spolaore, Seth Merrin Chair and Professor of Economics at Tufts University)

Felipe Valencia Caicedo is Assistant Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a Research Affiliate of CEPR. His primary research interests are in economic history, development economics, and economic growth, with an emphasis on Latin America.