Productivity growth in Latin America: 1820–2024

André Hofman and Mariana del Rio

Chapter 2 in The Elgar Companion to the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025, pp 20-58 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter provides a growth accounting assessment of Latin America's economic growth from 1820 to 2024, from a comparative perspective. It studies the contribution of productivity to economic growth and the effort made in terms of labor and capital inputs. Latin America includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and is compared with 3 groups of countries: (a) three Asian countries (Indonesia, Japan and South Korea); (b) Portugal and Spain, with similar institutions to those of Latin America; and (c) five now advanced countries (France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US). The overall GDP growth rate of the Latin American economies over the 1820–2024 period was somewhat above 3%. In the long run, the main differences in factor contributions to growth can be found in capital and, especially, in TFP. TFP contributed over the whole period a mere 0.25% to Latin American GDP growth and was negative in several sub-periods. Latin America has not been able to use new technologies (transport and electricity in the late 19th century and beginnings of the 20th and information and communication technologies, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st) in a productive way.

Keywords: Latin America; Economic growth; Long run 1820–2024; International comparison; Total Factor Productivity; Growth accounting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035317196
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