Raúl Prebisch

Raúl Prebisch was an Argentine economist who became one of the most influential thinkers on Latin American development. As head of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/CEPAL), he developed the Prebisch-Singer thesis, arguing that the terms of trade for primary commodity exporters tend to deteriorate over time relative to manufactured goods exporters.

This insight became foundational to dependency theory and structuralist economics, and provided the intellectual basis for import substitution industrialization (ISI) policies across Latin America in the mid-20th century.

Key contributions

• Prebisch-Singer thesis on declining terms of trade
• Center-periphery model of the global economy
• Advocacy for regional economic integration
• Intellectual leadership at ECLAC (1950–1963)
• First Secretary-General of UNCTAD (1964–1969)