Latin American Economists in the United States

Author(s): Anbal Pinto and Osvaldo Sunkel

Source: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Oct., 1966), pp. 79-86
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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LATINAMERICANECONOMISTSIN THEUNITEDSTATES*
AnTbalPinto and Osvaldo Sunkel
(Translated by Bryce Wood,Social Science Research Council)
In order to analyze the problem of the training of Latin American economists in United
we may start by asking the following question: Has there been until now
States universities,
an appropriate relationship between the size of the resources dedicated to this and the benefits obtained, in terms of the "professional maturity" of those trained, of their consequent
contribution in their own countries, and of the various aims taken into account in the United
States as part of this collaboration ?
Our impression is that the answer to this question should be in the negative, at least
in the sense that the investment has not been very economical, viewed from the United States,
nor very advantageous,
as seen from Latin America. And we venture to make this judgment
after having discussed the matter with many students who have studied in U. S. universities,
and also in the light of the results of their training.
or inaccurate interIn order to clarify our point of view and avoid misunderstandings
The first is that we believe it highly
pretations, we wish to reaffirm two basic matters.
positive for Latin American economists to complete their preparation in foreign universities.
The second is that no one can expect or demand that, in the U. S. or other countries, instruction be adapted to specific needs of foreign students; such students, therefore, must
do as best they can in the existing situation.
Let us now follow our argument.
it may be useful to relate it to the relevant past.
As a basis for the above hypothesis,
in economics went by preference to Great Britain or
Earlier, our graduates and specialists
France and were trained in accordance with the works of the classic or neo-classic
masters.
No doubt they learned much that was useful and intrinsically valuable, but with the easy
wisdom of retrospection we now have little doubt that they were in general victims of the
well-known phenomenon of "cultural alienation. " In fact, in their anxiety to accommodate
the reality of our countries to theoretical schemes developed out of context or unrelated to
or in accepting as dogma these schemes' implications for political
objective circumstances,
these foreigneconomy, and in manipulating instruments intended for other circumstances,
trained students not only contributed very little to the economic development of their countries, but frequently they retarded it. As Celso Furtado has clearly indicated:
"There, where
"I
reality is far from the ideal world of doctrine, it was assumed that social pathology began.
*

Under sponsorship of the Joint Committeeon Latin American Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies
and the Social Science Research Council of the United States and the Institute of Economics of the University of
Chile, there was held in 1962 in Santiago, Chile, a conference of Latin American and North American economists.
The agenda included several issues relating to university exchanges between the two areas. This article is an extended version of the remarksof the authors at this conference. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those
of the institutions in which the authors are employed. They are members of the staff of the Economic Commission for
Latin America and of the Latin American Institute for Economic and Social Planning. See Revista de economia
latinoamericana, No. 7 (1963). Copies of the report of the conference at Santiago may be obtained from the Social
Science Research Council.
1. C. Furtado, Formaci6n econ6mica

del Brasil (Ed. Fondo de Cultura).

79

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80

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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but these were to be found

Although this was the general case, there were some exceptions,
more in the group of the "empiricists" than in that of the "academicians. "
We think it necessary to state frankly that this phenomenon has continued to exist
down to the present time. In spite of all changes and advances, and especially at the university level, we have continued to be prisoners of this "alienation, " copying painfully and
without critical adaptations whatever emanates from Harvard, Cambridge, and other prestigeful universities.
And in this process, the most active agents (and also the victims) have
been those who studied abroad. The situation, apart from the waste of resources and opportunities, is a source of frustration for those who have experienced it, who have made it
or who have had high hopes of its promise.
possible,
The
At this point, it is necessary to face certain objections that may be foreseen.
above position should not be interpreted as unsophisticated
scientific "nationalism" or
"regionalism. " The problem arises in that the social sciences ought to raise their abstractions from an objective reality which changes in time and space, a phenomenon that does
not affect the natural sciences.
What is currently called "economic theory" is nothing but
some more atemporal or aspacial than others, but all exposed
a series of such abstractions,
and all of relative explanatory and
to modifications imposed by changes of circumstances,
operative validity, so that any dogmatic affirmation or transference derived from them may
From this point of view, we
give rise to major confusions and to grave errors in policy.
may agree that certain high abstractions of so-called economic theory may be scientifically
valid for a given contemporary reality, for example, for any "economy of scarcity. " However,
the distance between them and every specific reality is very great, and to the extent that
this difference is ignored, and other assumptions are not relaxed in order to take account of
the divorce between theory and objective reality will become the more
specific situations,
flagrant, and the results will be clearly manifested in the character of policy decisions.
In summary, the atemporal and ageographical applicability of fundamental propositions
A higher generality
of economic theory is directly proportional to its level of abstraction.
but on the other hand, the more abstract the theory,
demands a higher level of abstractions,
the less will be its explanatory power and its operative utility with respect to concrete
situations.
This problem may be examined in relation to the evolution
micro- and macroeconomics in the industrialized countries.

of, and relations

between,

So far as concerns microeconomics,

starting with very abstract but relatively valid assumptions about the behavior of typical units such as the consumer and the entrepreneur, a
refined analytical system has been developed.
The practical utility of this system has grown
in proportion to the "purification" of the assumptions; the elimination of false or insignificant assumptions and the incorporation of others more in accord with the facts has progressIn this way undoubted progress has
ively brought the models closer into touch with reality.
been made in the refinement and application of quantitative methods for an understanding of
rational economic behavior, particularly in the case of business enterprises.
If the economy of a country is composed of or characterized by relatively homogeneous
units that direct its behavior with a high degree of "economic rationality"--which
would desuch as a highly integrated economic system, the mobility
pend on certain basic conditions,
of productive factors, a single price system, little interference by the state, a reasonable
distribution of income, and so on-then it would not be difficult to trace and understand the
macroeconomic model, which amounts to an "aggregation" of the parts or units and which
thus constitutes the basic framework for the orientation of economic policy. z
2. We are aware of the fact that in theory there exist serious logical
even in the case of developed economies.
"aggregation,"

and statistical

difficulties

with this type of

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PINTO AND SUNKEL

81

In other words, in the developed countries, based on a growing knowledge of the productive unit, not only has it been possible to abstract and systematize laws and trends of
economic behavior but also it has been possible to distinguish a global vision of the basic
structure and relations of the system as a whole.
Naturally, this progress of economic
is still limited, and besides, it does not necessarily imply
although considerable,
science,
that public and private decisions will be "rational, " although there may be a theoretical and
scientific approximation with the rational.
If we compare the above sketch with the reality that confronts and challenges economic
analysis in our underdeveloped countries, the first thing that attracts attention is the substantial difference among the objects and phenomena that are to be the concern of scientific
analysis-that
is, that will constitute the raw material for generalization and theories.
To begin with, those private units of production that are representative of the industrialized countries, and which are characterized by a great degree of economic rationality of
the type postulated in theory, constitute the exception rather than the rule in Latin American
In agriculture, for example, the great majority of productive units are too small
countries.
On the other hand, a considerable part of the arable
to be exploited as commercial units.
land is concentrated in the hands of a small group of owners who do not organize its exploitation in an "economically rational" manner. In industry, where modern capitalist enterare shops of artisans,
prise has been more developed, a high percentage of establishments
or little more than this, while frequently basic sectors or great enterprises are owned by the
state or are under official control with respect to important economic decisions.
in mind, it appears evident that valid abstractions drawn
With these considerations
from microeconomic analysis of typical productive units in developed countries, as well as
the derived aggregation which is brought together in macroeconomic models, is found to be
In brief, these abstractions
considerably divorced from the reality of adolescent economies.
are far from being sufficient for explaining the effective behavior of the most characteristic
units and of the whole economic system, and therefore they have small operative value,
effect by being applied "out of context.'
when, indeed, they do not have a counter-productive
We continue this analysis,
recalling that the lagging countries need above all economists and administrators capable of formulating policies of economic development that require the elaboration of a macroeconomic interpretation of the process, which will serve as
a basis and guide for dynamic and well oriented action.
It happens, however, that the macroeconomic models with which Latin American stuare seriously indents are made familiar in the U. S., apart from. the above observations,
adequate, because they are in general short-term or static models; they are also usually of
the "closed" variety, or models in which international trade has little importance.
In reality, the problem of development does not exist in an analytical framework that
is static or of short-term nature, since the very method of analysis excludes it. The central
problem in this type of model is to achieve the optimum productive combination of certain
in order to satisfy a certain level and structure of demand. The Keynesian
given resources,
innovation of introducing a short-term dynamic element in the static neo-classical
model
consists simply in noting that such a level of demand does not necessarily assure the full
utilization of productive resources.
another fundamental problem of the
Consequently,
economy is to attain a level of effective demand that will permit an optimum productive
solution with full employment of resources.
What, then, are the central problems of economic development ? Surely they do not
appear to be "the optimum distribution of productive factors determined freely in the goods
and factor markets. " In an underdeveloped country, an optimum combination of productive

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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factors to satisfy a given demand would bring about a totally unsatisfactory

solution.
It
would be an unstable solution, capable of leading to stagnation, socially unjust and surely
"irrational" from the point of view of taking advantage of development potential.
This is because the free play of market forces in an underdeveloped economy leads to relative hypertrophy of specialized
foreign trade, this is to say, to dependence on one or a few export
This model of growth, in the majority of cases, leads by way of strong fluctuaproducts.
tions to the disproportionate expansion of one activity or productive region and of certain
The remainder of the economy, on which the great majority of the
directly related services.
population depends, remains more or less stagnant, while income and property is gradually
concentrated in the hands of those persons who are related directly or indirectly to the highly
Resources in the rest of the system are thus wasted, and unemproductive export sector.
ployment and underemployment of manpower become more and more flagrantly evident.
The fundamental problem of development is to attain a tendency toward rapid increase
in productivity per head of employed population.
This, in the conditions of an underdeveloped country, depends on the exploitation of natural resources which are not utilized, or on
of the use of those that are presently wasted.
the intensification
To accomplish this, institutional changes are necessary that, in the first place, will permit access to such natural
and then permit the accumulation of more capital, new technology,
and more
resources,
highly trained human resources to organize production rationally.
Moreover, it is necessary
to secure this capital, technology,
and manpower, since those that are "given" in the economic system are insufficient or inadequate.
Our concern, to speak more clearly, is not so
much to determine what is the best combination of natural resources,
capital, technology,
and manpower in a given moment, but rather the determination of institutional reforms and
the re-orientation of economic policy that are necessary so that those natural resources may
and be exploited effectively,
become accessible
that savings may increase and be adequately channeled, that technology may become available, and that human resources may be
formed that are responsive to economic requirements at all levels.
This problem is not presented in terms of production only. In an economy in which
there is a great concentration of property and of the advantages of education and of health,
and in which the markets are not only imperfect but independent of each other, wages approximate the value of the marginal product only in imported textbooks.
Consequently the
distribution of income is enormously unequal, and the structure of the demand of goods and
services has no relationship whatever to the effective needs of the people.
In these circumstances an economist would have to remain completely aloof from reality, be entirely identified with the status quo, or be very frivolous, to adopt the position that this problem "is
outside the scope of an economist because it constitutes a value judgment. "
From the foregoing, one may conclude that the young graduate of a North American
university does not only carry a "tool kit" that is no more than remotely applicable to Latin
American realities,
but that his own attitude toward his profession has been compromised.
There weighs on his conscience a fantastic ethical specter a la Robbins that shuts the route
of analysis of the most interesting and vital problems that are presented by the actual situation. Of course, in the majority of cases, reality is finally accepted, rather than myth, but
only at the cost of many efforts and frustrations and many hours lost in purely scholastic
debates.
Another characteristic
of study in North American universities is the emphasis given
there to great rigor in analytical work. In fact, the capacity for rigorous analysis constitutes the most signal mark of academic distinction.
Of course, this in itself is correct and
of value, and we can only wish that it were more evident in Latin America. Unfortunately,
however, scientific rigor has come to be identified with mathematical modes of expression.
Although it is clear that any analysis carried out with the aid of mathematical methods
in itself a certain scientific rigor (at least in the sense that the analysis is
possesses

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PINTO AND SUNKEL

83

it is no less the case that (a) not all economic problems lend themlogical and consistent),
selves to mathematical treatment; (b) those that can be mathematically analyzed are not necessarily the most important; and (c) the use of mathematical methods is not the only way to
achieve scientific rigor.
These considerations
would have minor importance if it were not that in Latin America
basic statistical
information-the
fundamental element of all useful quantitative analysisis incomplete and inadequate or is nearly valueless because of elemental statistical
errors.
Besides, the fundamental problems of development are extraordinarily complex; they include
variables of heterogeneous
structure whose behavior is not possible to define clearly and
elements that introduce discontinuities
in economic processes.
There are also variations in
factors that are normally regarded as data in static, short-term analysis,
such as consumer
population growth, distribution of income, and so on. For these and other
preferences,
reasons, what can be submitted to mathematical treatment is either very concrete and specific or very general and abstract-and
therefore largely irrelevant.
However, since the
mathematical has been identified with the scientific,
the most capable of young Latin American economists are directing their best efforts to research oriented to the application of
mathematics to economic analysis,
even when they run the risk of the sterility or of the delicate refinements that are so characteristic of current academic activity.
In order to avoid
we wish to note that mathematical analysis should be welcomed insofar
misunderstandings,
as it may aid in the introduction of greater rigor and more quantitative elements in what is
basic and fundamental in economic analysis; without the mathematical tool, it is impossible,
for example, to conceive and develop techniques of planning.
However, care is necessary
in order that this analysis should not be regarded as an end in itself, and thence as a vehicle into escapism and irrelevance.
To take up again the thread of our discourse,
we make so bold as to assert that the
majority of young economists who go to industrialized countries for training return to their
home environment with theoretical schemes that are to a greater or lesser extent divorced
from objective reality and from the economic problems of their own countries, and often with
research methodologies that have no possibility of being usefully applied.
It is not rare,
then, that such students must on their return pass through a period of "agonizing reappraisThe most mature and intelligent students will
al"-a desperate effort at re-adaptation.
succeed in separating the wheat from the chaff, in establishing the proper place for theoretical abstractions,
and in selecting methodologies with respect to the possibilities
of their
useful application.
Others, however, either fall into a state of confusion and discouragement or become repeaters of textbook clich6s or architects of mathematical acrobatics, while
they are incapable of interpreting national realities or, still less, of aiding in the solution
of economic problems.
This phenomenon should be a source of deep preoccupation for the economic profession
in Latin America, for two basic reasons.
In the first place, ,because in recent years (and
those in the near future will heighten this tendency) economic problems have been raised to
the leading place in the Latin American political scene, both within individual countries and
in their relations with each other and with other regions of the world. This has meant, in
practice, the incorporation of many economists recently trained in our universities into professional life, in private business,
and especially in governmental service, notably in the
institutions responsible for economic development policies.
Economists have come to occupy in this way positions that traditionally were entrusted to lawyers, engineers, and finanIt would be unfortunate if these new professionals
cistas.
should assume such functions
with ideas, attitudes, and analytical equipment that are entirely inapplicable and lacking
in realism and without any understanding of the mission they are responsible for fulfilling.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that the students who study abroad are
of their generation, and that, on their return, they begin
generally the most distinguished
their professional life in the universities,
teaching what they have just learned without much

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ECONOMIC DEVEIOPMENT

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preoccupation and little understanding of the specific and daily tasks of private entrepreneurs
and of the officials responsible for the formulation and execution of economic policy.
In view of these circumstances,
it is not surprising that national and international organizations dedicated to the task of economic development in Latin America should have had
a fairly disheartening experience with the employment of young economists produced by our
which are now oriented toward the North American model, as they were formerly
universities,
toward the European model. There is no doubt that there exists dissatisfaction
with the
It
quality of this education, and especially with the type of professional that it produces.
is not only that there is the impression that these economists have acquired little competence
in the use of practical and operational instruments of analysis,
but, in particular, that their
entire training has made them alien to the problems and hostile to the context in which it is
In summary, there is no doubt that there is an immense
their responsibility
to participate.
still
gap between the studies undertaken by our students in North American universities--and
more in our own, which are frequently dull copies-and
the tasks that they must carry out in
institutions such as development banks, exchange control commissions,
planning commissions, budget offices, institutes of agrarian reform, offices of social security, housing corporations, and so on.
This is the fundamental reason that explains the appearance in recent years of a series
of special programs of more or less intensive courses intended to fill this gap between the
Following the special training program of the Economic Commission
university and reality.
for Latin America presently carried out by the Latin American Institute for Economic and Social
Planning, which has been in existence for over ten years, there have been instituted the programs of the International Bank, of CEMLA, of the BID, and the special courses on economic
which thus offer for the first time
development in various North American universities,
courses for students from underdeveloped countries.
The manner in which new programs and
courses of this type have "blossomed" in recent years has been documented in a recent publication of OECD. 3
It would be pretentious
more to suggest the remedies
that we consider relevant.

to try to summarize the causes of the phenomenon and still

for it. However, we shall attempt to make some observations

For many of those who have studied abroad, especially in Great Britain and the United
States, one of the specific reasons for the situation mentioned above is the custom of organof Arts or Doctor
izing studies of foreign students toward the acquisition of a degree-Master
of Philosophy-which
demands the selection of a given number of courses of the curriculum
and therefore the complete integration of the students into the educational system outlined
for the youth of the host country. What happens ? The foreign student learns many things,
among them how to work hard, but on the whole it may be that he does not learn the things
that he needs most whether from the point of view of his professional and technical career,
or from that of his intellectual approach.
In order to clarify this question, it is sufficient to recall the themes that constitute
the essence of the basic courses of economics in the industrialized countries, and which
are evidently related to their complex of problems: the functioning of the price mechanism
under certain competitive conditions; full employment; problems of the business cycle,
viewed from the angle of systems having an important capital-goods-producing
sector in the
economy; international financial movements and their effects on the balance of payments;
indirect and automatic instruments of economic policy; agricultural overproduction, and so
on.

3. OECD, Catalogue

des Institutions

de formation en matiere de developpement

economique,

6dition 1962 (Paris,

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1962).

PINTO AND SUNKEL

85

These courses deal with important matters, no doubt, but are these really the matters
that constantly confront a Latin American economist ? There is reason to doubt this, if one
has in mind the dominant concerns of our situation:
economic development; the distribution
of income and of wealth; the rigidities of the agricultural sector; vulnerable and unstable
foreign trade; deterioration in the terms of trade; discriminatory foreign exchange policies;
the economics of state-controlled
enterprises; planning; anachronistic institutions; etc.
In summary, within this scheme, and apart from certain basic generalities
and anathere exists a great probability that the enlytical tools that are more or less applicable,
thusiastic seeker of academic training and distinctions will finish by becoming prepared,
in the best hypothesis,
to comprehend and operate in a world to which he is a total stranger.
Related to this question is the difference of objectives of university training in the
industrialized
countries and in Latin America. While in the former the main purpose is to
train new recruits for the academic profession,
in our own countries-in
spite of the importance of this aim, which would in any case be attained only with difficulty by a short
period of training abroad-the fundamental objective is the substantial augmentation of the
contingent of experts and officials of the middle range, who are able to collaborate in the
formulation and execution of development policies.
It seems almost unnecessary to stress
the fact that these two relatively disparate objectives cannot be achieved within the framework of standard curricula in North American universities,
since these are naturally oriented
toward indigenous needs.
Given these circumstances,
and keeping in mind our opening remarks on the positive
of cooperation between universities
in the United States and in other countries,
significance
what can be done ?
A first, limited, but very important step would be to concentrate opportunities for
in subjects with which they have some
training on individuals capable of specialization
In other
familiarity and which they have encountered in their professional experience.
words, the recipient of a fellowship should go abroad after having had practical experience,
during several years, which will have made him familiar with the problems and nature of the
situation in which he will later play a part. At the present time, it seems clear that a high
proportion of the recipients of fellowships are not sufficiently mature to select, from among
the broad spectrum of courses offered to them by foreign universities,
those that they need
and that will be most significant in their training and in their later professional careers.
In accordance with what has been noted earlier, there should be a substantial modification in the distribution of fellowships
among those who take courses to obtain a degree
and those who go to undertake research, in favor of the latter. On this point, it appears
evident that the contribution that universities in Europe and the United States can offer is
related to their tradition and practice of scientific method, that is, to their customs and
techniques of amassing, ordering, and systematizing
objective data susceptible to being
utilized as bases for valid abstractions.
For various causes, both cultural and material,
these functions are not performed by our universities,
especially in the social sciences.
Therefore, one of the most promising lines of cooperation that is so generously offered lies
in the training of graduate students in the techniques of scientific research, giving them
the necessary facilities,
and to organize the maaiding them to carry out investigations
terial thereby obtained, guiding them so that their hypotheses and conclusions may be supThe possibilities
of this line of action appear
ported by rigorous disciplinary standards.
most clearly when it is recalled that there is an enormous amount of source materials of all
types on Latin America and each of its countries in the libraries of the major foreign universities, as well as a wide range of subjects that may be studied with respect to relations of
all kinds between industrialized
economies and dur own. This matter may be made more
precise

by means

of a few very obvious

questions.

Would

it not have

been

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more advanta-

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geous for all concerned if a Chilean graduate student, who worked so hard to gain a master' s
degree on this or that problem of imperfect competition or the theory of games, had given his
attention to the study of the structure of the industry and the functioning of the market for
he not have studied the factors which
copper in the United States ? Or this Brazilian--should
determine the elasticity of demand for coffee in the United States ? And should not that Venezuelan student have done research on U. S. import restrictions on petroleum and their importance and effects ?
On the other hand, foreign universities may provide substantial aid to our own, changing the traditional form of fellowships into a system of grants to their own professors and
graduate students, and also to Latin Americans, for the undertaking of research on an acaIn doing so, they may even secure real advantages
demic level in Latin American countries.
for themselves.
It should be recalled that not a few of the best studies on problems of Latin
America have resulted from foreign field research supported by various institutions in Europe
and the U. S.
are fundamental because, however much may have been pubThese considerations
lished recently on economic development, very little basic research has been accomplished
of these economies and on the ways in
on the structural and institutional characteristics
What is
which these characteristics
affect the functioning of the societies in question.
and
really known about the obstacles to the change of techniques,
customs, institutions,
is manifest from a glance at any textbook on the
policies ? The theory of development-as
and
not consist of more than a curious mixture of economic generalizations
subject-does
pseudo-sociological
propositions; a conglomeration of short- and long-term analytical elements and of static and dynamic approaches; of various doctrines and schools of thought.
in view of
Very little has been done, in fact, to reformulate economic theory systematically
changes in assumptions and new elements that are presented by the actual situation in the
This cannot be accomplished without basic research, and such
underdeveloped countries.
research can only be undertaken in those countries themselves.
In the present situation, there is practically no possibility in the Latin American
notable exceptions-to
university-with
carry out the fundamental research that could serve
as a base for an analytical interpretation and an abstract model or theory of development.
In these circumstances,
it is not even possible to take adequate advantage of the student
who returns from a foreign country with improved technical training because, on the one
hand, he cannot dedicate himself to research and, on the other, since his professional work
will have little relationship to what he has been taught and will teach, he will soon be converted into a parrot of the textbooks that he studied abroad, and especially of those that are
currently most fashionable.
There are no more than two alternatives.
Either we continue with the present situation, hoping that at some future time the North American universities may offer training in
subjects that really interest us, and that subsequently this knowledge will be transmitted
or our own universities may be transformed into serious centers of high
to our universities;
intellectual quality, having as their objective the stimulation of research on the social
Our profound conviction is that
reality in which their graduates will have to participate.
We need highly
there is no substitute for this fundamental reorientation of our universities.
qualified faculty members who possess original and unprejudiced minds and who would dedito research and to the guidance of teams of research
cate themselves and their assistants
We believe that this is the necessary condition for
workers on forward-looking projects.
In this task, the aid of North
the accumulation and transmission of scientific knowledge.
American universities,
and also of those in Europe, Japan, China, the Soviet Union, Africa,
and other areas, will be extremely beneficial,
if offered in accordance with the above
recommendations.

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