Latin America's economies face a tremendous window of opportunity, marked notably by strong inflows of capital and robust growth even as high-income economies continue to suffer the effects of the global financial crisis; some leaders in the region are even talking about a "Latin America Decade." Will policy makers seize this opportunity to tackle the region's long-standing development challenges? This seminar will review the last half century of volatile economic performance in Latin America, focusing on the efforts of the economies in the region to reverse the most fundamental of these challenges, including high levels of poverty and inequality, and low levels of productivity.