Abstract
The article analyzes development finance in Latin America through a central question: the expansion of finance does not produce the same effects in economies that occupy subordinate positions within the international monetary and financial system. Its objective is to examine how the economic and international political economy literature has interpreted the relationship between financialization, external vulnerability, and regional development. The study adopts a qualitative, analytical, and interpretive approach based on a review of academic literature and institutional documents. The research design combines thematic relevance, theoretical significance, and PRISMA-inspired traceability criteria to select and analyze 28 references. The review shows that financial deepening does not automatically translate into growth; that financialization in peripheral economies takes the form of subordinate integration into the international economy; that monetary hierarchy constrains policy space; and that external constraints continue to condition the ability to transform finance into productive development. The analysis also highlights the importance of Latin American heterogeneity. Brazil allows the observation of mechanisms associated with more internationalized financial markets, whereas other economies reveal vulnerabilities more directly linked to conditional access to external financing, debt, and international shocks. The article concludes that regional development requires building institutional, productive, and macroeconomic capacities capable of directing finance toward structural transformation, rather than treating financial expansion as a sufficient objective in itself.