Understanding Latin America's Economy in the Twenty-first Century
582 Alvarado Row, Stanford, CA 94305
Latin America’s economic performance is often depicted as a long sequence of repeated failures, including its contribution to global financial crises as well as its slow growth and intractable inequalities. Its experience in the twenty-first century, however, reveals considerable and underappreciated successes (as well as setbacks). This talk will review the region's growth and development in the last quarter century, including the commodity boom, a surprising decline in economic inequality, responses to the financial and Covid-19 crises, and the emergence of left-leaning governments that opted for pragmatic and orthodox macro policies mixed with innovative antipoverty programs.
Jeff Dayton-Johnson has served as vice president of academic affairs and dean at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey since 2014. He is also a professor of international policy & development there. Prior to joining MIIS, he was senior economist for Latin America & the Caribbean at the OECD Development Centre in Paris, and assistant and associate professor of economics and international development studies at Dalhousie University in Canada. Dayton-Johnson's research and teaching interests include economic development, inequality, Latin America & the Caribbean, public policy, migration, social cohesion. He earned a PhD in economics and an AB hons in Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley.