Introduction -- The colonial period and the nineteenth century -- Early industrial growth -- The post-World War II industrialization drive : 1946-1961 -- From stagnation and boom to the debt crisis : 1961-1985 -- Inflation and economic drift : 1985-1994 -- The real plan and the end of inflation : 1994-2002 -- The economic orthodoxy vs. social development : 2002-2007 -- The external sector : trade and foreign investments -- The changing public sector and the impact of privatization -- Regional inequalities -- The agricultural sector -- The environmental impact of development -- Health care -- Neoliberalism and market concentration : the emergence of a contradiction? -- Linking past, present, and future.