Models of Capitalism and Latin American Development* Actors, Institutions, and Policies

Latin American societies have undergone fundamental changes in the past two decades, moving from capitalist economies with very wide-ranging state intervention towards more market-driven systems. These changes have produced some successes in the area of economic growth, but also many problems, particularly in the area of poverty and inequality. Moreover, there are underlying problems like low saving and investment rates and sluggish export growth that are reason for concern regarding future economic growth (e.g. Fishlow 1995). As the perception of a need for continuing changes in economic and social policies is widely shared, the search for solutions to the challenge of growth with equity has intensified. In this period of globalization, the experiences of countries in different parts of the world are becoming more and more accessible for comparative study, and policy-makers increasingly look to a variety of experiences as potential reference points. In comparative perspective, societies with market economies exhibit great diversity, at every level of economic development, in terms of their capacity to produce growth and equity, or growth and social integration. The obvious question is why som