Isabel Sanz Villarroya

Macroeconomic Outcomes and the Relative Position of Argentina's Economy, 1875–2000 *

This paper attempts to investigate the main factors behind Argentina’s economic decline comparing its evolution to that of Australia and Canada. With this objective, we have constructed a reduced index of economic freedom which captures and summarises the main political macroeconomic outcomes covering the period 1875-2000, After using co integration and causality techniques, the results obtained show how the macroeconomic policies implemented during this very long period are to explain the relative evolution, in terms of GDP per head, of Argentina’s economy.

Human capital convergence in Latin America: 1950–2000

espanolUsando la informacion contenida en las Penn World Table las estadisticas de la CEPAL y la base de datos OLAD para el periodo 1950-2000, y considerando una muestra de 18 paises Latinoamericanos, este articulo pretende estudiar el proceso de convergencia que se da entre ellos. Los resultados obtenidos utilizando tecnicas de datos de panel nos permiten hablar de convergencia solo en un sentido condicional. Realmente, encontramos que el principal factor que explica el proceso de crecimiento y convergencia en esta region es el nivel de capital humano. Esta variable ha sido construida usando la metodologia de Componentes principales y tomando en consideracion variables tales como la tasa de matricula en educacion primaria y secundaria, el numero de habitantes por medico, la esperanza de vida, la mortalidad infantil y la tasa de dependencia. EnglishUsing the Penn World Table, the CEPAL statistics and the OLAD data base for the period 1950-2000, and considering a sample of 18 Latin American countries, this paper tries to test for convergence within the region. The results from a panel data approach only allow us to speak about convergence in a conditional sense. In fact, one of the main factors behind both economic growth and the catching up process in the region is the level of human capital. This variable has been constructed using Principal Components methodology and taking into consideration primary and secondary school enrolment ratios, the number of inhabitants per doctor, life expectancy, the infant mortality rate and the dependency rate.