The analysis presented in this document wholly adheres to the idea that social equality and the kind of economic dynamism that transform production patterns are not at odds with each other and that the challenge is to find synergies between the two. The proposal made here is headed in this direction and leads to the next point: when we speak of equality we do so in the awareness that we must grow to equalize and equalize to grow. At no point, therefore, do we suggest that we should sacrifice the value of dynamic economic and productive growth on the altar of equality. In strategic terms and in the long term, equality, economic growth and environmental sustainability must go hand in hand, mutually supporting and reinforcing one another in a virtuous dialectic. In the pages that follow, we closely examine the signs of development (and underdevelopment) in recent decades and the vicissitudes and consequences of the recent crisis. We also look to a future in which the State and political action harmonize democracy with equality, promote leaps in productivity and environmental sustainability, inclusive markets and active citizenship, and generate the necessary social covenants in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region in which there are gaps to close and trails to open.