This is another volume concerned with the problems of “economic growth” in Latin America. Its author is a Mexican economist whose view’s have been influenced by his Mexican environment and experience. He advocates a “mixed” economy, with the government not only owning a large public sector but regulating and dominating the private sector. He believes that each national chief executive in Latin America—and perhaps each head of local government in some countries—should have a staff of trained economists and technicians for the purpose of collecting statistics and providing development plans and programs. He thinks that such a system would not lead to state socialism, and that personal liberties would not be destroyed but only somewhat curtailed even if state socialism should prove to be the final result.
He advocates “price supports,” national and international, for the products of farm and ranch and for minerals and metals—including, of course, control of production. He urges abundant financial assistance on the part of the more affluent countries, preferring public aid, national and international, to private aid, but without rejecting private foreign investment if restricted mainly to the creation and expansion of manufacturing industries and the “transmission” of technology. He is an ardent exponent of agrarian, fiscal, and financial reform in Latin America, along with increased emphasis on “practical” education.
He is optimistic regarding the “viability of the economy of Latin America” provided all, or most, of his recommendations are adopted within the next decade or so, and provided that most of the Latin-American economies can be “integrated.” His final chapter presents a useful summary of influences culminating in the adoption of the “Alliance for Progress.” His style is clear and vigorous. The 42 tables in his Statistical Annex contain useful data on Latin American population, income, labor forces, production, and foreign trade, as well as on the progress and nature of private foreign investments in the various countries of the region. He makes no recommendation regarding public population policy.
