Key words: economic cycles, Latin America, economic development, Structuralism

"Cycles, Economic Structures and External Constraints; A Structuralist Study on the Causes of Economic Volatility in Latin America"

The main objective of this thesis is to understand the causes behind the endogenous volatile behaviour of Latin American economies in a Structuralist perspective. Many distinct authors argue that the repetition of strong boom-bust dynamics is a structural problem in the economic development of Latin America. This research searched for the underlying causes of this behaviour, discussing volatility as an endogenous phenomenon, intrinsic to the characteristics of these fragile economies.

This research question was assessed following empirical and theoretical approaches. This thesis is divided in four independent articles. Despite their independence, their topics are considered as different parts of a puzzle, searching to answer the main research questions of this thesis: what are the conditions and causes of structural volatility in Latin America?