Latin America's Economy Diversity, Trends, and Conflicts [Paperback]

This important new text provides a clear, comprehensive, and accessible overview of major economic issues facing Latin America today, including balance of payments problems, inflation, stabilization, poverty, inequality, and land reform. It captures trends and common issues and at the same time illustrates the diversity of national experiences.

Each chapter centers around an economic problem from such new topics as debt to more enduring issues like poverty and agrarian reformand presents major economic theories on the causes and solutions to the problem. Complex equations and formulas are omitted; instead, the discussion focuses on the underlying logic of contending policy prescriptions. Cardoso and Helwege provide numerous cross-country examples and tables to demonstrate how individual countries are affected differently by economic trends or policies, gradually building a sense of the complexity of the Latin American economy and the policy implications behind economic solutions. Chapters also include helpful summaries and ideas on what the future may hold.

This is an excellent and sorely needed text. It has no serious competition.

This book is a first rate introduction to the economies of Latin America. It is a balanced and highly readable presentaion, broad ranging in the issues it covers, yet well grounded in modern theory; up to date in its factual description, yet it traces into the historical roots.

Well-written and highly analytical, this new text by Cardosa and Helwege seems destined to become the standard in Latin American economics courses. The bibliography is superb, the coverage is 'state of the art,' and the organization is logical. The sensitivity to the historical roots of underdevelopment, the dispassionate treatment of alternative views, and the careful attention to the issues of inflation and stabalization of all give this book a distinctive character. The closing chl/