Macroeconomic policies for development in Latin America

This article analyses the link between the macroeconomic environment and development (economic growth with equity). The aim of the analysis is to compare two alternative approaches to interpreting and implementing macroeconomics. The first to come under analysis is the financialist or neoliberal approach, which places the emphasis on macroeconomic balance, giving particular weight to the two cornerstones of low inflation and control of the fiscal budget, together with general openness of the capital account. The second approach -which we will call the "alternative"-is the productivist approach, which places the emphasis on a comprehensive group of macroeconomic balances: or rather, in addition to low inflation and fiscal responsibility, it involves a real balanced economy; that is to say, an aggregate demand that is consistent with the economy's productive capacity and with a sustainable external balance. This second approach involves, firstly, a high coefficient of the use of productive factors (capital and work) while, secondly, it attempts to prevent vulnerability in front of costly crises of external origin. Finally, the author argues that the broadest macroeconomic objectives demand more and better political instruments in the context of the globalisation of financial volatility.