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Government and Development: Managerial Attitudes in Latin America*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Albert Lauterbach
Albert Lauterbach*
Affiliation:
Social Science Faculty, Sarah Lawrence College
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Extract

This paper is concerned with the attitudes of Latin American enterprise managers toward the role of government, as compared with that of private initiative and investment, in the economic development of the nation. Most of its data was obtained in the course of a broader investigation of managerial attitudes toward economic development, which was carried out in ten countries during the years 1959 to 1963. In addition to interviews, extensive information was obtained from informal conversations with businessmen, attendance at meetings of managerial groups, and the study of materials prepared by trade associations or individual companies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , April 1965 , pp. 201 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1965

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Footnotes

*

Author's Note: This article represents part of a larger study which is scheduled for publication by the Cornell University Press under the title Enterprise in a Developing Economy: the Case of Latin America. Materials for this study were to a large extent obtained during the author's Brookings Research Professorship for 1962-1963. Earlier phases of the research concerned were aided by the Fulbright Administration and the Social Science Research Council. The author is solely responsible for the contents of this article. A.L.

References

1 This phase of the investigation was discussed by the author in the following publications: “Actitudes empresariales y el desarrollo económico,” Revista de economía latinoamericana, Caracas, Venezuela, June 1961; “Managerial Attitudes and Economic Development,” Kyklos, Basle, Switzerland, Vol. XV/2, 1962; “Comportements Economiques en Amérique Latine Occidentale,” Economie Appliquée, Paris, France, Tome XV/3, 1962; Managerial Attitudes in Chile (Santiago: Instituto de Economía, Universidad de Chile, 1961).

2 (a) “Who owns this enterprise and in which way are the managers connected with the owners?” (b) “Do you have a present intention to invest more money in the enterprise? (If yes) From what sources?” (c) “Are you affected by any shortage of capital or credit?”

3 Cf. José Medina Echavarría, Consideraciones sociológicas sobre el desarrollo económico de América Latina, Naciones Unidas, Consejo Económico y social, febrero de 1962, pp. 24-34. Also Tomás Roberto Fillol, Social Factors in Economic Development: The Argentine Case (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press; 1961).

4 Cf. United Nations, Management of Industrial Enterprises in Underdeveloped Countries (New York, 1958), pp. 4 ff.

5 See Schumpeter, Joseph A., The Theory of Economic Development, Harvard Economic Studies. XLV1 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1934)Google Scholar, for his discussion of the important role of the “innovator” in economic development.

6 Lauterbach, Albert, Man, Motives, and Money, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1959), pp. 73 ff.Google Scholar

7 The questions concerned were, (a) “What do you think is the most pressing need of this country in order to stimulate development?”, (b) “What do you consider the proper role of the state in economic development?”

8 See Vernon, Raymond, The Dilemma of Mexico's Development (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963)Google Scholar.

9 For a conservative point of view see, for example, the numerous’ releases of the Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana. The publications of the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Transformación show greater development-mindedness.

10 For a comparison with European experiences during the 19th century, see Gerschenkron, Alexander. “Social Attitudes, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development,” in Econqmic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1962), ch. 3.Google Scholar

11 Asociación Venezolana de Ejecutivos, La responsabilidad empresarial en el progreso social de Venezuela (Caracas, 1963).