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INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS IN LATIN AMERICA AND EAST ASIA by Klaus Esser, Wolfgang Hillebrand, D. Messner and J. Meyer-Stamer (London: Frank Cass, 1993)
International Competitiveness is a short work of 115 pages dealing mainly with issue surrounding Latin American economies, and specific chapters dealing with Chile and Brazil. There is one short chapter in the book which deals with Korea, hence the title of the book misleads the reader into believing that there is a comparison of East Asian economies.
This book is an incredibly dreary and laborious read. Although the book could be at first mistaken as a sociological analysis of international competitiveness, it falls into the academic trap of preaching to the converted with a dry, convoluted text steeped in economic jargon.
Esser et al's analysis of Latin America is purely in the economic sense. They fail to represent or even indicate that in Latin American countries, especially those in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay), much of their economic advancements and failures were (and still are) due to socio-political climates. Esser et al believe that excessive inward orientation from 1930-90 influenced capitalism in Latin America (page 6). However, what influenced capitalism in Latin America was purely and simply US expansion and tighter control of governments throughout all of Latin America. The US fear of the Domino Effect extending in the Americas after the Cuban Revolution brought tighter political and economic controls throughout the region. Although having huge economic interests in Cuba, the US failed to intervene in Cuba to protect those interests,...