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The main objective of this paper is to recall Sung-Hyong Rhee by examining his lifelong academic legacies. His career has left a sizable legacy of research results, ranging from Latin American politics and economics to studies of cultures and histories. In this paper, we give special attention to his research about Latin American economies. His studies in this field focused on the criticism of neo-liberalism and appraisal of its alternatives in Latin America. To examine the lifelong academic achievements of Sung-Hyong Rhee, we focus primarily on the four books in which his research has been felicitously gathered: Mexico in the Times of IMF, Light and Shadow of Neoliberlism, Latin America. Politics and Economics of the Perpetual Crisis, and A Great Flood. Sung-Hyong Rhee's interest in Latin American neo-liberalism began with his analysis of Argentina, and extended to Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and even Venezuela. Alongside the analyses of the general socioeconomic conditions behind each country's neo-liberalism he shed light on the concrete mechanisms of neo-liberal policies, such as privatization, regional integration, and as well as on the alternatives to neo-liberalism in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the argument that the economies of Latin America had a relatively rapid recovery from the crisis, a recovery which cannot be attributed to the Latin American countries' domestic macroeconomic policies. Although macroeconomic policy cannot be ignored as important for good economic performance during the boom period and recovery, we demonstrate that the recovery has been based upon a combination of favorable external conditions. To show the limitations of macroeconomic policies we analyze their characteristics during the economic boom period, which is considered erroneously countercyclical. Finally, we examine how policies affected the recovery, revealing their limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]