Abstract

This paper describes the career of Raul Prebisch and, at the same time, analyze his theoretical contribution when he tried to decipher the history and problems of economic development in Latin America. From adviser to ministers to the direction of the Argentine Central Bank, from ECLAC to UNCTAD he faced many battles. While worked in public positions, Prebisch was theoretically interpreting the world in which he lived. Thus emerged the core-periphery system, which included ideas of growth, the deteriorating terms of trade and the struggle for industrialization through import substitution.

JEL Classification: B31; B22; O14.