Missed Opportunities : Innovation and Resource-Based Growth in Latin America

Latin America missed opportunities for
rapid resource-based growth that similarly endowed
countries-Australia, Canada, Scandinavia-were able to take
advantage of. Fundamental to this poor performance was
deficient technological adoption driven by two factors.
First, deficient national "learning" or
"innovative" capacity, arising from low investment
in human capital and scientific infrastructure, led to weak
ability to innovate or even take advantage of technological
advances abroad. Second, the period of inward-looking
industrialization discouraged innovation and created a
sector whose growth depended on artificial monopoly rents
rather than the quasi-rents arising from technological
adoption, and at the same time undermined resource-intensive
sectors that had the potential for dynamic growth.