Colombia’s Slow Economic Growth: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Palgrave Studies in Economic History)

Looking at the years 1870-2016, this book analyses the reasons behind Colombia’s chronically slow economic growth. As a comparative economic history, it examines why Colombia has seen lower growth rates than countries with similar institutions, culture and colonial origins, such as Argentina in 1870-1914, Mexico in 1930-1980, and Chile from 1982 onwards. While Colombia's history has shown relative macroeconomic stability, it has also shown a limited capacity for integrating into the world economy and embracing technological breakthroughs compared to the rest of the world, including steam, mass production and Information Technology. This volume thus moves away from the long-held view that institutional path dependence is the main determinant of differences in long-run economic growth across countries. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi The Particular Colombian Case in Latin America: A Singular Path with the Same Results (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 1-10 The Price of the Regeneration: How Colombia Missed the Belle-Époque, 1870–1914 (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 11-37 The Take-off, 1914–1929: Coffee, Railways, and Regional Divergence (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 39-60 The Liberal Republic, 1930–1945: Overcoming the Great Depression, the Rise of Interventionism, and Economic Slowdown (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 61-83 The Import Substitution Era, 1945–1980: The Consolidation of Interventionism, Financial Repression, and the Slow Way to Industrialisation (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 85-106 The Lost Decades, 1980–2000: External Debt, Structural Reforms, and a Deep Financial Crisis (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 107-128 Commodities-Driven Growth, 2001–2018: The Colombian Miracle (Ivan Luzardo-Luna)....Pages 129-143 Back Matter ....Pages 145-154