Table Of ContentThe Global Political Economy of
Raúl Prebisch
The Global Political Economy of Raúl Prebisch offers an original analysis of global
political economy by examining it through the ideas, agency and influence of one
of its most important thinkers, leaders and personalities. Prebisch’s ground-break-
ing ideas as an economist – the terms-of-trade thesis and the economic case for
state-led industrialization – changed the world and guided economic policy across
the global South. As the head of two UN bodies – the Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and later the United Nations Con-
ference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) – he was at the frontline of key
North–South political struggles for a fairer global distribution of wealth and the
regulation of transnational corporations.
Prebisch increasingly came to view political power, not just economic capabil-
ities, as pivotal to shaping the institutions and rules of the world economy. This
book contextualizes his ideas, exploring how they were used and their relevance
to contemporary issues. The neoliberal turn in economics in North America, West-
ern Europe and across the global South led to an active discrediting of Prebisch’s
theories and this volume offers an important corrective, reintroducing current and
future generations of scholars and students to this important body of work and
allowing a richer understanding of past and ongoing political struggles.
Matias E. Margulis is Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of S tirling,
UK. A former Canadian delegate to the WTO, OECD and United Nations agencies,
his research focuses on global governance, international trade and human rights.
Recent publications include ‘Canada at the G8 and UN Committee on World Food
Security: forum-shifting in global food security governance’ (Canadian Foreign
Policy Journal, 2015), ‘Trading Out of the Global Food Crisis? The WTO and the
Geopolitics of Food Security’ (Geopolitics, 2014) and Land Grabbing and Global
Governance (2014, edited with Nora McKeon and Saturnino Borras, Jr.).
RIPE Series in Global Political Economy
Series Editors: James Brassett (University of Warwick, UK), Eleni Tsingou (Copen-
hagen Business School, Denmark), Susanne Soederberg (Queen’s University,
Canada) and Jacqueline Best (University of Ottawa, Canada)
The RIPE Series published by Routledge is an essential forum for cutting-edge
scholarship in International Political Economy. The series brings together new
and established scholars working in critical, cultural and constructivist political
economy. Books in the RIPE Series typically combine an innovative contribution
to theoretical debates with rigorous empirical analysis.
The RIPE Series seeks to cultivate:
• Field-defining theoretical advances in International Political Economy
• Novel treatments of key issue areas, both historical and contemporary, such
as global finance, trade, and production
• Analyses that explore the political economic dimensions of relatively
neglected topics, such as the environment, gender relations and migration
• Accessible work that will inspire advanced undergraduates and graduate
students in International Political Economy.
The RIPE Series in Global Political Economy aims to address the needs of stu-
dents and teachers.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/RIPE-
Series-in-Global-Political-Economy/book-series/RIPE
Culture, Political Economy and Civilization in a Multipolar World Order
The Case of Russia
Ray Silvius
Gendered States of Punishment and Welfare
Feminist Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation and the Law
Adrienne Roberts
Corporate Human Rights Violations
Global Prospects for Legal Action
Stéfanie Khoury and David Whyte
The Global Political Economy of Raúl Prebisch
Edited by Matias E. Margulis
Critical Methods in Political and Cultural Economy
Johnna Montgomerie
The Global Political
Economy of Raúl Prebisch
Edited by Matias E. Margulis
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Matias E. Margulis; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Matias E. Margulis to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Margulis, Matias, editor.
Title: The global political economy of Raúl Prebisch / edited by Matias
Margulis.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Series: RIPE series in global political economy | Includes b ibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016043500| ISBN 9781138219779 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315414614 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Prebisch, Raúl. | Development economics. | Economic
development. | International economic relations.
Classification: LCC HD75.P72 G56 2017 | DDC 337.01--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043500
ISBN: 978-1-138-21977-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-41461-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Paignton, UK
Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables viii
Notes on contributors ix
Foreword xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
List of abbreviations xvii
Introduction: the global political economy of Raúl Prebisch 1
MATIAS E. MARGULIS
PART I
Prebisch as architect and theorist of the global
political economy 25
1 Development through tighter economic integration:
how might Prebisch size up some trends and issues
thus far into the twenty-first century? 27
P. SAI-WING HO
2 Thinking big from the periphery: Raúl Prebisch and
the world system 45
ANDRÉS RIVAROLA PUNTIGLIANO
3 Raúl Prebisch and the theory of regional economic
integration 61
JOSÉ BRICEÑO RUIZ
4 The Latin American origins of Bretton Woods 78
ERIC HELLEINER
vi Contents
PART II
Power and resistance in the global political economy 95
5 Raúl Prebisch and the historical roots of the current
movement against corporate-led globalisation 97
ROBIN BROAD AND ZAHARA HECKSCHER
6 From Palais de Nations to Centre William Rappard: Raúl
Prebisch and UNCTAD as sources of ideas in the GATT/WTO 116
ERIN HANNAH AND JAMES SCOTT
7 The West remains on top, economically and politically 135
ROBERT H. WADE
PART III
Diagnosing structural change in the global political economy 153
8 A changing role for agriculture in global political economy?
Brazil’s emergence as an agro-power 155
KRISTEN HOPEWELL
9 Back to the future reloaded: Latin America’s development
strategy during the commodity boom 172
ESTEBAN PÉREZ CALDENTEY AND MATÍAS VERNENGO
10 Raúl Prebisch and the terms of trade: how things
have changed… 194
RAPHAEL KAPLINSKY AND MASUMA FAROOKI
Index 215
Figures
0.1 All Commodity Price Index, 2005=100, includes both
fuel and non-fuel price indices 11
6.1 Frequency of uses of the term ‘policy space’ in TDRs 124
6.2 Percentage of ministerial statements using the term
‘policy space’ 124
6.3 Percentage of WTO minutes including the term
‘policy space’ 125
9.1 Latin America, financial balances as percentage
of GDP 1990–2014 176
9.2 Five-year rolling correlation coefficient between goods
exports in real terms and the terms of trade 1985–2006 177
9.3 Discrete change in the terms-of-trade indices between
2003–7 and 1990–2000 179
9.4 Latin America, export composition by technological
content 1980–2012 (percentage of total) 180
9.5 Export share of petroleum products and natural gas in
total leading export products (percentages),
2002–5 (averages) 181
9.6 Latin America, net unilateral transfers 1980–2013
(US$ millions) 182
9.7 Latin America, current account with transfers and
adjusted for transfers 1990–2013 (US$ billions) 183
10.1 IMF Commodity Price Index, January 1992–June 2015
(2005=100) 197
10.2 Which way forward for commodity prices? Reversion
to long-term trend (price spike), supercycle or
structural break 198
10.3 Copper cost changes 2003–13 202
10.4 World manufacturing export price 1986–2000 206
10.5 Percentage of sectors which experienced falling prices
in EU imports between 1988–9 and 2001 206
10.6 Market-led linkage development and the effect of policy 209
10.7 Recent changes in the terms of trade 211
Tables
9.1 GDP per capita growth rates for Latin America and
the Caribbean 1963–2013 175
9.2 Average annual growth of commodity indices 1980–2013 178
9.3 Latin America, net resource transfer 1980–2006
(in percentage of GDP) 184
9.4 Latin America (countries that experienced favourable
terms-of-trade effects), current account adjusted for
remittances and contributions of remittance to narrow
the external gap 1990–2013 188
9.5 Latin America (countries that experienced unfavourable
terms-of-trade effects), current account adjusted for
remittances and contribution of remittances to narr ow
the external gap 1990–2013 189
10.1 China’s percentage share of global production and
consumption of hard commodities (1990–2009) 199
Contributors
José Briceño Ruiz is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social and Economic
Sciences at the University of the Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. He holds a PhD
in Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Polítiques d’Aix-en-Provence
(Science Po Aix). His research areas of expertise include Latin American
regionalism, comparative regionalism, international political economy and
foreign policy. He has been a visiting scholar at Stockholm University, Aoyama
Gakuin University in Tokyo, Universidad de Sonora (México), the University
of São Paulo and the University of Buenos Aires. He has edited several books
on Latin American regionalism, including The Resilience of Regionalism
in Latin American and the Caribbean. Autonomy and Development (2013),
co-edited with Andrés Rivarola Puntigliano.
Robin Broad is Professor of International Development at the School of
International Service, American University in Washington, DC, USA. She
teaches courses on economic globalization and development as well as
environment and development, with a focus on social, environmental, and
economic accountability. Her books include Development Redefined: How
the Market Met Its Match (2009), co-authored with her husband and frequent
collaborator John Cavanagh, which follows the rise of the Washington
Consensus and its failure as a model for economically, environmentally,
and socially sustainable development. Dr Broad is also the editor/author
of Global Backlash: Citizen Initiatives for a Just World Economy (2002),
which combines her analysis with 45 original documents to demonstrate
that opponents to the current corporate-led, neoliberal globalization present
viable, sophisticated alternatives. Her earliest book – Development Debacle:
The World Bank in the Philippines, co-authored with Walden Bello and others
in 1982 – was one of the first to present an in-depth critique of World Bank
lending. She is also the author of the books Plundering Paradise: The Struggle
for the Environment in the Philippines (co-authored with John Cavanagh) and
Unequal Alliance: The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and
the Philippines.
Masuma Farooki is Associate Director for the metals and mining consulting
unit at S&P Global Market Intelligence. She is a development economist and
