Download or read book Honoring the Past, Building the Future written by Ricardo Ávila and published by Inter-American Development Bank. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although science has unlocked the secrets of the human genome, the causes of social and economic development remain stubbornly enigmatic. Why do some countries adopt new technologies more readily than others? Why does income inequality persist in some regions--even in the face of rapid economic growth? Why do some societies welcome the challenges of globalization while others attempt to turn back the tide? Honoring the Past, Building the Future examines these and many related questions through the experience of Latin America and the Caribbean. In an accessible, journalistic style, author Ricardo Ávila explores a tumultuous half-century in which the region went from backwater to breadbasket, from dictatorship to democracy, and from economic basket case to emerging power.