Growing international inequality, guilty countries and patterns of extractivism and subordination

International inequality grew during history. 200 years ago, rich countries were only 3 times richer than poor countries. By the end of colonialism in the 1960s they were 35 times richer. Today, they are about 80 times richer. Around the world, many developing and emerging countries have been praised for their economic success during the last two decades. Those results were often ascribed to the neoliberal policies of financial and trade liberalization that enabled the countries to attract foreign lending, especially Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), while increasing exports of the richest natural resources those countries have been endowed with. This work analyses how, despite their historical, geographical, and cultural distinctions, many Global South countries share important structural characteristics that constrain them to the same path of dependency and subordination. A productive and economic structure mainly devoted to extractive activities is matched with substantial financial inflows that increase foreign ownership in the strategic key industries of those countries. Focusing on Latin American countries and supported by a deep empirical analysis of balance of payments dynamics and international investment position statistics, this paper highlights the adverse dynamics of development strategies reliant on natural resource extraction and export activities. It questions the sustainability of such strategies and their capacity to reduce inequality at the international level.