This article analyses the effects of the economic reforms applied by Latin American countries during the second half of the 1980s and after.In order to include the reform indices among the elements determining the per capita gross domestic product,in accordance with neoclassical growth models,the authors start by analysing the institutional nature of these reforms.The econometric analysis,carried out for a set of 17 Latin American countries for the 1970- 1995 period,revealed that the five reform areas studied significantly affected GDP.On the basis of empirical analysis,it can be concluded that:i);the general impact of the reforms on per capita GDP was positive,as other studies have found;ii);the main mechanism by which the reforms raised per capita income was the positive effect they had on the productivity of the capital factor, and iii);capital accumulation also responded positively to the reforms.