The major task of this book is to demonstrate whether “exogenous forces stemming from growing demand for exports (from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1930s) had positive long-term effects on the economic development of these countries, and if so, to what degree; or, alternatively, whether they represented an obstacle to development” (p. 3). This analysis of the age of “export-led growth” in Latin America is carried out for five large and middle-sized South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
The essays on Chile and Peru are fascinating critiques of the “enclave” hypothesis. The analysis of the nitrate and guano booms shows, indeed, the relatively high (and even surprising) proportion of export income which remained in these countries and the significant linkages with the domestic economies, particularly in the Chilean case. The paper on Argentina is also prolific on the domestic linkages of the export sector. Nonetheless, the most interesting elements of this essay are the emphasis on the greater multiplying effects of the new export products which were developed throughout the century and the role of supply factors (reduction in transportation costs, mobilization of the labor force, flexible exchange rate management, etc.) in export development, as opposed to the European demand factors usually pointed out.
The chapters on Brazil and Colombia are different in focus from those just mentioned. In the case of Brazil, great emphasis is placed on the role of government policy (exchange rate, taxation, retention of coffee surpluses, etc.) in the management of the coffee cycle. The chapter thus focuses on issues of “short-term” macroeconomic management rather than on the “developmental” issues which pervade the case studies of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Nonetheless, this approach helps us understand some of the linkages between export development and industrialization, which had been stressed in analyses of the 1930s. Finally, the chapter on Colombia deals mainly with the timing and the determinants of the “transition” to economic growth, a concept which is altogether absent in the rest of the volume.
This book is a significant contribution to the study of the export-led growth in Latin America. The emphasis placed on the domestic linkages is particularly valid, as traditional historiography' and Latin American thinking have underplayed the developmental effects of export growth before the 1930s. The volume also sheds considerable light on the nature of external vulnerability and stabilization policies in this phase of development. Unfortunately, some issues are not tackled, or are dealt with only in passing. Most important in this regard for a comparative volume are those related to the timing of export growth. In particular, what is the explanation for the very different levels of exports per capita among the countries considered at the outset of the twentieth century or before the Great Depression? Are the different patterns of export growth related to structural features of the countries? More specifically, what role, if any, did the traditional productive structures play in relative export development?
