The Economic History of Latin America since Independence
The standard economic history; export dependence and import substitution explained.
Summary
Victor Bulmer-Thomas wrote the standard single-volume economic history of Latin America, covering the whole region from independence in the 1820s to the present in successive editions.
The organising structure is by period and by growth model. The nineteenth century covers the difficulty of establishing viable states after independence, the export-led growth that developed unevenly across countries, and the commodity specialisation that each country settled into. The interwar period covers the collapse of export markets and the beginning of import-substituting industrialisation. The postwar chapters cover the full development of import substitution, its achievements in building industrial capacity and its limitations in scale, efficiency and foreign exchange requirements. Later chapters cover the debt crisis of the 1980s, the market reforms of the 1990s, and the commodity boom of the 2000s.
Bulmer-Thomas is comparative throughout, treating the region as a set of countries with different resource endowments, market sizes and political trajectories rather than as a unit. He is measured about the standard debates, giving import substitution more credit than its critics allow while documenting its constraints, and treating the market reforms similarly. The book is long and reference-like, with substantial data. It is the work to consult for any question about a specific country's economic trajectory in the region.
Key takeaways 7
- Latin American countries settled into commodity specialisations in the nineteenth century that shaped their subsequent development for a century.
- Export-led growth produced very different outcomes across the region depending on the commodity, the ownership structure and the linkages created.
- Import-substituting industrialisation built genuine industrial capacity and was limited by domestic market size and foreign exchange requirements.
- The 1980s debt crisis resulted from external borrowing at floating rates that repriced when American monetary policy tightened.
- Market reforms of the 1990s restored macroeconomic stability without producing the growth acceleration their advocates predicted.
- Bulmer-Thomas treats the region as a set of distinct national trajectories rather than as a unit with a common history.
- Commodity price cycles have driven Latin American growth episodes more consistently than any policy regime has.
Who should read it
Investors and analysts working across Latin America who need a reference economic history covering the whole region and period.
Where it sits in the reference 2
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