Beginning with the integration of Latin America into the world trading system centered on Europe and North America during the century before 1930, this 2003 book explores the successes and failures of export-led growth. Using new data on exports and a simple model to explore the relationship between exports and growth, the author pays particular attention to the question that has most concerned policy-makers in Latin America: how to transfer growth in the export sector to the rest of the economy, raising living standards and real income per head. The author examines the routes through which Latin American republics extricated themselves from the debt problem in pursuit of a new version of export-led growth. Taking its narrative from the end of the colonial epoch to the present, this book provides a comprehensive balanced portrait of the factors affecting economic development in Latin America.

The Texas State Historical Association is pleased to offer a newedition of Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas, Gregg Cantrell's path-breaking biography of the founder of Anglo Texas.Cantrell's portrait goes beyond the traditional interpretation ofAustin as the man who spearheaded American Manifest Destiny.Cantrell portrays Austin as a borderlands figure who couldnavigate the complex cultural landscape of 1820s Texas, then aportion of Mexico.His command of the Spanish language, respect for the Mexicanpeople, and ability to navigate the shoals of Mexican politicsmade him the perfect advocate for his colonists and often for all ofTexas. Yet when conflicts between Anglo colonists and Mexicanauthorities turned violent, Austin's accommodationist stancebecame outdated.Overshadowed by the military hero Sam Houston, he died at theage of forty-three, just six months after Texas independence.Decades after his death, Austin's reputation was resurrected andhe became known as the "Father of Texas." More than just anicon, Stephen F. Austin emerges from these pages as a shrewd,complicated, and sometimes conflicted figure.