Celso Furtado and the Myth of Economic Development: Rethinking Development from Exile

Abstract

This article introduces two previously unpublished working papers by the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado . Following a brief outline of his life and ideas, the arguments in the two papers are examined, taking into account their context and place in Furtado's evolving body of work. These two papers represent a crucial turning point in Furtado's thinking, highlighting his critical perspective on (under)development and laying the basis for four books that he would publish in rapid sequence. We stress Furtado's growing scepticism with the prospects for international development and global convergence, and his attempt to reimagine the meaning of development and the potential paths to development by peripheral countries. Furtado's approach to global capitalism in these two papers shed an even more critical light on the structure and evolution of global capitalism than his better-known works from the 1950s. Finally, the contemporary relevance of his ideas is illustrated by reference to their relationship with the current heterodox literature.

Uneven decommodification geographies: Exploring variation across the centre and periphery

“…The plunder of land and the exploitation of labour by multinational corporations continued apace in the 1960s and 1970s and this was increasingly seen as a central feature of capital accumulation in the core (Frank, 1969; Marini, 1972). The consumption patterns and capitalist lifestyles of core capitalist countries, especially the US, also became more entrenched in Latin America; hence, dependency was not only a political-economic relation but also a social and cultural process (Furtado, 1973/2021; Loureiro et al, 2021). The upshot of dependency in the late twentieth century was that instead of Latin American societies transcending centre-periphery structures and relations through a process of state-directed capitalist development, as Prebisch had hoped, they became increasingly reliant on the capitalist core and stuck in a persistent trap of crisis and underdevelopment.…”

“…1 Centre-periphery structures and relations, which are explained in greater depth below, have emerged through centuries of uneven colonial-capitalist development and remain in place today, albeit it in different and evolving forms (e.g. Giraudo, 2020; Katz, 2022; Loureiro et al, 2021). In arguing for the continued relevance of the centre-periphery concept, I am aware that it risks essentialising and homogenising diverse geographies and reproducing hierarchical binary categories (see Sud and Sanchez-Ancochea, 2022).…”

Políticas públicas de desarrollo regional en la Amazonía Occidental: El caso de las Áreas de Libre Comercio

“…Não apenas facilitam a integração entre as regiões de um país, mas também promovem o crescimento dos setores econômicos menos atrativos (Krajevski, 2021). Por outro lado, é amplamente conhecido que as nações e regiões apresentam uma desigualdade socioeconômica (Chmielewski, 2019;Dedecca, 2012;Espinós, 2014;Lima & Simões, 2009, Loureiro et al, 2021Myrdal, 1968;Pinto & Gumiero, 2018). Nesse contexto, os países subdesenvolvidos muitas vezes carecem de políticas de desenvolvimento regional, as quais sirvam de instrumento na melhoraria de seu desenvolvimento socioeconômico.…”

O Brasil no inferno global: capitalismo e democracia fora dos trilhos

“…Ainda que não se adote uma visão explicitamente "furtadiana", os trabalhos tardios do autor -ver, por exemplo, as reedições (FURTADO, 2021a, 2021b) -são intimamente alinhados à perspectiva do presente texto. Nesta fase de sua obra, Furtado integra os circuitos de produção e consumo em sua análise e é mais crítico das noções padrão de desenvolvimento, fazendo uma chamada explícita para que se reconsidere o signifi cado e os objetivos do desenvolvimento econômico e social (ver também Loureiro et al, 2021).…”