The Myth of Economic Development

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5095-4014-3
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 90 Seiten, Format (B × H): 142 mm x 218 mm, Gewicht: 200 g

This classic work remains one of the most incisive contributions to dependency theory in the Latin American context. While agreeing with other dependency theorists that underdevelopment on the Latin America periphery was structurally connected to the accumulation of capital in the advanced economies at the core of the global capitalist system, Furtado went further and argued that the very idea of development in the periphery is a myth, deceiving countries into focusing on narrow economic factors such as the rate of investment and the volume of exports to the detriment of their human well-being. Moreover, the costs of development in terms of environmental destruction would be catastrophic for the planet: the idea that the poor in Latin America and elsewhere might someday enjoy the livelihoods of today’s rich people is unrealizable in practice, and any attempt to generalize the lifestyles of the world’s well-off would lead to the collapse of civilization. Adhering to the ideas of development and progress is not only misleading: it is also a form of cultural domination that stifles creativity and blocks the imagination of alternative life forms that would be better aligned to the conditions of life in Latin America and elsewhere. 

This prescient analysis of economic development and underdevelopment in Latin America retains its relevance today and will be of interest to anyone concerned with issues of political economy and culture in the Global South, as well as students and scholars in political economy, development studies, Latin American Studies and critical theory.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Furtado, Celso

Weitere Mitwirkende

Jones, Jordan B

Sylla, Ndongo Samba

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Volkswirtschaften einzelner Länder und Regionen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction – Ndongo Samba Sylla vi
1 The Prophecy of Collapse 1

2 The Structural Evolution of the Capitalist System 7

3 Large Companies in New Center–Periphery Relations 28

4 Options for Peripheral Countries 46

5 The Myth of Economic Development 55

Notes 64

Index 74

Über Autor(innen)

Celso Furtado was a major figure of economic thought in the latter half of the twentieth century, who also served as Brazilian Minister of Planning and Minister of Culture and was nominated for the 2004 Nobel Prize.