Victor Bulmer-Thomas is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of London and Honorary Professor with the Institute of the Americas, University College London. He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London; an Associate Fellow in the Americas Program at Chatham House, where he was the Director from 2001 to 2006; and was Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, from 1992 to 1998. His publications include The Economic History of the Caribbean Since the Napoleonic Wars (2012), The Political Economy of Central America Since 1920 (1987) and Input-Output Analysis for Developing Countries (1982). He is also co-editor of The Cambridge Economic History of Latin America (2006).

'Bulmer-Thomas's third update of The Economic History of Latin America since Independence is the essential, even canonical, guide for a region of the world long dominated by commodities and their export. Scrupulously detailed and balanced, the book outlines Latin America's largely disappointing growth record without discounting the region's economic variety, historical achievements, and social possibilities. Those hoping to re-energize the study of Latin American economic history can start reading here.' Paul Gootenberg, SUNY Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology, Stony Brook University, and author of Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug (2009)

• 1. Latin American economic development: an overview; 2. The struggle for national identity: from independence to mid-century; 3. The export sector and the world economy, circa 1850–1914; 4. Export-led growth: the supply side; 5. Export-led growth and the non-export economy; 6. The First World War and its aftermath; 7. Policy, performance, and structural change in the 1930s; 8. War and the new international economic order; 9. Inward-looking development in the postwar period; 10. New trade strategies and debt-led growth; 11. Debt, adjustment, and the shift to a new paradigm; 12. Conclusions; Appendix 1. Data sources for population and exports before 1914; Appendix 2. The ratio of exports to Gross Domestic Product, the purchasing power of exports, the net barter terms of trade and the volume of exports, circa 1850 to circa 1912; Appendix 3. Population, exports, public revenue and GDP for the main Latin American countries before 1914; Appendix 4. GDP per head in Latin America since 1900.