ECONOMIC REFORMS AND GROWTH IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to empirically establish a relationship between economic reforms and GDP per worker growth in Latin America, through its sources of growth: physical capital per worker and the total factor productivity (TFP). From a sample of seventeen countries in a period ranging from 1970 to 1995, an exercise of decomposition of the growth were performed to verify the impact of the economic reforms through the growth of the total factor productivity of the Latin American countries. The results suggest a positive relationship between economic reforms and GDP per worker growth through the growth of the TFP and human capital.