The Economic History of Latin America since Independence PDF
Preview The Economic History of Latin America since Independence
This page intentionally left blank THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA SINCE INDEPENDENCE SECOND EDITION The Economic History of Latin America since Independence tells the story of promise unfulfilled. Despite the region’s abundance of natural resources and a favorable ratiooflandtolabor,notasinglerepublicofLatinAmericahasachievedthestatus ofadevelopedcountryafternearlytwocenturiesfreeofcolonialrule.Ifanything, thegapbetweenlivingstandardsinLatinAmericaandthoseofdevelopedcountries hassteadilywidenedsincetheearlynineteenthcentury.Burdenedwiththelegacy of colonialism and its unequal distribution of resources, Latin America is still a peripheralregioninwhichexternalinfluencesremainpreeminent. BeginningwiththeintegrationofLatinAmericaintotheworldtradingsystem centered on Europe and North America during the century before 1930, this book explores the successes and failures of export-led growth. Using new data on exports and a simple model to explore the relationship between exports and growth,theauthorpaysparticularattentiontothequestionthathasmostconcerned policymakersinLatinAmerica:howtotransfergrowthintheexportsectortothe restoftheeconomy,raisinglivingstandardsandrealincomeperhead. After the Depression of 1929, a number of countries – mainly the larger re- publics–withdrewfromtheworldtradingsystemintoamodelofinward-looking developmentbasedonimport-substitutingindustrialization.Althoughthebene- fitsofimportsubstitutionfirstappearedsubstantial,thecostsoftheinward-looking modeleventuallyprovedtobeexcessive.Undertheweightofthetariffwall,com- petitionfromimports–andwithitthepressuretoimprovequalityanddesign– vanished.Competitionfromdomesticproducersmighthaverescuedthesituation, but oligopoly was much more common, with barriers to entry provided by high initialcapitalcosts.ProfessorBulmer-Thomasarguesthatamajorproblemwith importsubstitutionwassimpletiming:Theopportunitycostoftheinward-looking modelbecameincreasinglyhighaftertheSecondWorldWar,asworldtradestarted toexpandrapidly.Theadvantagestobereapedfrominternationalspecialization, following the Ricardian ideology of comparative advantage, were abandoned in favorofgrowingprotection. The debt crisis of the 1980s effectively ended the inward-looking phase – no amountofimportcompressioncouldreleasetheresourcesneededtoservicedebts andexpandproduction.TheauthorexaminestheroutesthroughwhichLatinAme- rican republics extricated themselves from the debt problem in pursuit of a new versionofexport-ledgrowth.Takingitsnarrativefromtheendofthecolonialepoch tothepresent,thisbookprovidesacomprehensivebalancedportraitofthefactors affectingeconomicdevelopmentinLatinAmerica. VictorBulmer-ThomasistheDirectoroftheRoyalInstituteofInternationalAffairs and Professor Emeritus at the University of London. He is the editor of Regional IntegrationinLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean:ThePoliticalEconomyofOpenRegionalism (2001)andtheco–editorofTheUnitedStatesandLatinAmerica:TheNewAgenda (1999). Foralistofotherbooksinthe CambridgeLatinAmericanStudiesseries, pleaseseepage482. CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES GENERAL EDITOR HERBERT S. KLEIN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 77 THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA SINCE INDEPENDENCE SECOND EDITION Map1. LeadingresourcesandproductsofCentralandSouthAmerica,circa1930. AdaptedfromHornandBice(1949). THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA SINCE INDEPENDENCE SECOND EDITION VICTOR BULMER-THOMAS RoyalInstituteofInternationalAffairs London Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521825672 © Cambridge University Press 2003 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2003 - isbn-13 978-0-511-07093-8 eBook (EBL) - isbn-10 0-511-07093-4 eBook (EBL) - isbn-13 978-0-521-82567-2 hardback - isbn-10 0-521-82567-9 hardback isbn--13 978-0-521-53274-7 paperback - isbn-10 0-521-53274-4 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. First edition © Cambridge University Press 1995 Forthe30percentwhoreceive5percent–arayofhope; forthe5percentwhoreceive30percent–awarning.
The list of books you might like
