Technical failures further strengthened support for the status quo. The period of transition of Latin America's next expansionary phase is still in progress as the end of the century approaches. Once again, crisis has brought a new policy approach, a change more abrupt and ideological than in the first transition. Once again, the new approach is embedded in the existing structure, exacerbating inequality by worsening income distribution, a clear empirical finding for the 1980s. However, in the 1990s, policy is perceptibly shifting, becoming more pragmatic and diverse.
Social issues appear to be moving up the agenda in a number of countries.
These developments frame the questions and challenges at the end of the century. Latin America's GDP was about 30 percent of that of Spain and Italy in 1900, reaching 40 percent by 1950. Positions were reversed in the second half of the century. He vividly describes the lack of regional integration during the period. Estimating the amount of production that was subsistence is virtually impossible, since estimates of production were made from the area planted or sown, thus automatically incorporating, at least in principle, subsistence farming.