The Political Economy of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Contemporary Latin America

• In Event: The Political Economy of the Middle Income Trap

Abstract

The 21st Century has witnessed a new policy focus throughout most of the developing world on science, technology, and innovation (STI). Countries have, among other things, introduced new STI laws, new STI Ministries, increased budgetary allocations for STI, offered tax incentives for private STI investments, and established instruments to facilitate linkages between public sector research and private industry. This paper examines variation in STI outputs in Latin America’s three largest economies (Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico) and links such variation to the different patterns of organization and political mobilization in national STI communities. The principal focus is on efforts to build new political organizations to interact with the state in the design and implementation of STI policies. In Brazil and Mexico new associations dedicated to this task emerged, though while the Brazilian association has grown and become the principal interlocutor and representative for STI policies, its Mexican equivalent has remained marginalized in the network of government-business interaction. In Argentina, the country’s most technologically advanced firms attempted to create such an organization in the wake of the 2001 crisis but the effort was unsuccessful. In this paper I examine the organization of STI communities in these three countries and how their distinct histories, organizational trajectories, and patterns of interaction with the state affect STI policies.

Author

• Kenneth C Shadlen, London School of Economics and Political Science