2008 Vol. 2 Num. 1 - GCG: Revista de Globalización, Competitividad ...

Andres Oppenheimer2,800, Chile 1570, and the number of LatinAmerican students fell by 0.3 percent lastyear, according to the IIE report.- While Asian and Eastern Europeancountries are mass producing engineersand scientists, Latin America’s state-rununiversities are producing large numbersof psychologists, sociologists and politicalscientists.Argentina’s 152,000-student University ofBuenos Aires is graduating 1,300 psychologistsa year, compared with about 240engineers -- the equivalent of five new psychologiststo try to solve the mental problemsof each new engineering graduate.At Mexico’s 280,000-student UNAM, eightypercent of the students pursue careers insocial sciences, humanities, arts and medicine,and only twenty percent in engineering,physics or mathematics. At both universities,which charge no tuition, the vastmajority of students drop out in their firstyears of college.- In the latest Program for InternationalStudent Assessment, a standardizedtest that measures 15-year-olds inmath, language and science, Latin Americancountries scored among the lowest inthe world. While Chinese children in HongKong scored 550 points in the math test,South Korean students scored 542 andU.S. children 483, the scores in Mexico,Brazil, Chile and Argentina were around400 points or below.- Only 1 percent of all world investmentin research and development goesto Latin America. And Latin America’s 32countries together spend $11 billion a yearin research and development, which is lessthan the $12 billion that one Asian countryalone - South Korea – spends annually onit, according to the Inter-American Bank.Why is all of this important? Because intoday’s knowledge economy, in which pricesof raw materials – even with today’srecord oil prices – are way below those ofhigh-tech or higher value added goods,countries that produce the most sophisticatedgoods are the ones that grow themost in the long run.My favorite example: of each cup of LatinAmerican-grown coffee that American consumersbuy at any U.S. cafeteria, less than3 percent of the price goes to the region’sfarmers. More than 97 percent of the pricegoes to those involved in the genetic engineering,processing, branding, marketingand other knowledge-based activities,which are most often based outside the region.If Latin America wants a greater shareof the production pie, it will need more engineersand business administrators.Despite these depressing data, I’m still optimisticabout Latin America. There severalencouraging trends in the region, includinga new political and economic stability withindemocracy.Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru,among others, are breaking away from LatinAmerica’s age-old curse of extreme politicalswings, which led to instability, capitalflight, and ever-growing poverty. These andother countries have bet on economic continuity,which is beginning to draw growingdomestic and foreign investments. And, inseveral cases, this is done by a new breedof economically-responsible leftist governments.Granted, U.S. officials and most of us inthe media focus on Chavez and his allies inBolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, who makebig headlines with their calls for Socialist“revolution.” But, together, Venezuela andits friends don’t account for more than 7percent of Latin America’s gross domesticproduct. Latin America’s story is being writtenelsewhere in the region.37GCG GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - UNIVERSIA 2008 VOL. 2 NUM. 1 ISSN: 1988-7116