*** Where Are the Latin American Tigers?








Where Are the Latin American Tiger Economies?

Latin American tiger economies
Figure 1.--Hong Kong is one of the Asian Tigers. Here is a street scene in the 1950s before capitalism began to transform the city into the eight mosy prosperous place on earth. And all without any natural resources--except economic freedom. .

Much of our discuson of Tiger economies is about Asia. I have only limited experience about Asia. I have more experience in Latin America. But after teaching school for 2 years in Ecuador I was drafted and sent to Korea (1970). Ecuador and Korea were very different countries, but they were very poor countries. If anything South Korea was even poorer than Ecuador. And Ecuador had important natural resources that South Korea lacked. But since 1970 there has been a remarkable change. In only a little over a generation, free market capitalism has thrust South Koreans from abject poverty into the prosperous middle class with life styles comparable if not exceeding Europeans and Americans (#2 Singapore --$94,500 and #8 Hong Kong -- $63,1000) South Korea comes in at #28 -- $40,100) below the United States and the major European countries, but comparable to many European countries. 【World Bank】 The World Bank does not list Taiwan for fear of offending China. (Per capita income on Taiwan, however, is much higher than in China, even after their market reforms.) These capitalist successes in Asia stand in sharp contrast to Latin America. Outside of the Caribbean, the most prosperous country is Chile with a per capita income of $24,200 a year. Of course Chile is the Latin American country which has most wholeheartedly embraced capitalism. Several other countries are in the $20,000 range, but most are below it. So the question becomes why have the Asian Tigers done so well and the Latin American countries done so poorly. Interestingly, while I often hear from left-wingers in Latin Americans and the United States, that America is responsible for the region's failure, it is notable that an important part of the success of the Asian Tigers was a close association and economic ties with the United States. That leads us to two prime suspects.

Iberian Colonial Heritage

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Socialism

Socialism was the creation of Karl Marx, Frederich Engels, and other 19th century thinkers. Beginning with the Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution, some 50 countries have created socialist economies. This included Easter Europe where the Soviet Union imposed brutal Communist dictatorships, several Asian countries (most spectacularly China), and several of the new independent states as part of the post-World War II as part of the de-colonization process. These countries compiled a record of economic failure without parallel. And all including the Soviet Union which imploded (1991) have been abject failures, many leaving mass graves in their wake and poverty. And none permitting free elections allowing citizens to have any say in their government or economy. The simple fact is that the only prosperous countries are countries with core capitalist economies. Human are hard-wired to pursue self interest and other individualist pursuits. Thus to create a socialist economy totalitarian violence is required. Several of these failures have been in Latin America (Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela). Socialism has not fared any better in Latin America than it has in Africa, Asia, or Europe. In fact the most spectacular failure of socialism has been in Latin America. Communist imposed Socialism has turned a country with huge oil resources into a failed pauper nation with a hungry population, unable to find needed food stuffs in the shops. And even more failure has been reported by countries adopting socialist policies, but not yet the totalitarian system needed tn install a fully socialist economy. Despite all this failure and millions voting with their feet heading for El Norte, socialism remains a popular concept throughout the region, attracting electoral support throughout the region.

Sources

World Bank (2018). This World Bank data is available on Wikipedia.









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Created: 6:44 AM 11/8/20199
Last updated: 3:03 AM 5/18/2023