In Zambia, these businesses were nationalized from the second half of the 1960s on, and began to produce only for the internal market. These policies had the unanticipated effect of providing protection to the consumer goods industry. However, the strategy also left a legacy of problems and distortions. This protectionist policy dominated in developing countries, especially… 2959 Words 12 Pages Import Substitution vs. As the market was small in Africa, due mainly to low income, there was no public for manufactured goods, thus making production at profitable levels unviable. In fact, the domain of industry was a way of legitimating the politicians rather than a rational economic policy aimed at the development of the industrial sector. Tariffs were often used in addition to , exchange-rate manipulation, and import licenses for particular products necessary for manufacturing.
Import substitution industrialization theory has been advocated for by various economists including Friedrich List from the 18 th centuries. With import substitution, imported goods would begin to be produced domestically and the negative effects of the declining terms of trade would be minimized, thus partly solving the disequilibrium in the balance of payments. That huge movement led to the establishment of investments by metropolitan businessmen in association with colonial people in the manufacture of fairly light consumer goods. But in many of the developing countries, the infants never seemed to grow up—protection became permanent. Our writing professionals are qualified to handle any type of assignment, from essays, term papers, research papers, projects, course works and case studies among others. In the late 19 th century, it was a land of opportunity.
But then the lack of foreign competition made further innovation less interesting and obstruction of others more lucrative. No doubt import substitution also runs into the same problem. Physical and human capital, available in Sub-Saharan Africa, was much smaller than that of other underdeveloped countries. The decline in international trade and finance cut the continent off from foreign capital, and the terms of trade deteriorated. Learning about technology and acquiring technological advances were very costly processes, although technology was an integral part of the capital goods imported. For example, before World War I, Latin American tariffs were five times those of Western Europe.
He first points to the underutilization of the capital stock, due to a lack of qualified labor, limited demand for specific output, and limited availability of intermediate goods the last two being direct consequences of the policies implemented. In general, it was noticed that foreign capital and the market would not provide the economic transformation required to overcome underdevelopment effectively. Contrarily, in several colonies, the Government cut costs and continued to enlarge the crop production in order to export more and compensate for price reduction, thus suffocating manufacturing that was beginning to develop Kilby, 1975; Coulson, 1982; Forrest, 1982. It must be pointed out that, in most countries, the Government assumed the leadership of completely impoverished economies with little or no public finance, virtually without key institutions to run a country, an acute shortage of physical and human capital - a high illiteracy rate, 71. Getúlio Dorneles Vargas president, 1930-45, 1951-54 was overthrown, democratic rule was reestablished, and the foreign-exchange reserves accumulated during the war made possible a reduction of trade restrictions. Introduction Latin America is a fascinating case for anyone studying modern economic development. Mercantilist economic practices and theory adopted by some nations in the 18 th, 17 th and 16 th century frequently advocated for the establishment of domestic import substitution and manufacturing.
Hence, local resources are redirected to the production of such services and goods leading to the formation of new industries. Baer points to the socio-economic structures in Latin America. This national apathy was due to the domestic agents' incapacity to react to structural and price constraints imposed on them by big businesses. The East Asian countries have demonstrated clearly the viability of trade policies in promoting industrialisation through reliance on foreign markets as opposed to domestic markets and were based on dynamic comparative advantage that went beyond reliance on primary commodities. Are you struggling to write your Assignment? However, trade liberalization was short-lived. Between 1949 and 1960, its share in the value added by industry as a whole experienced a sharp decline, from 20.
In the of international trade and with some recognition of a role for the state in development, the way for national governments to pursue development remains a critical if unanswered question. This is to ensure the economy remains in balance without any threat to growth and economic stability. This essay purposes at surveying the detail for import substitution process and export promotion strategy in developing countries. It had an average annual growth rate of over 9 percent between 1950 and 1961, compared with 4. This system continued to be the main instrument for the promotion of import-substitution industrialization, but the performance of the export sector improved only modestly. Colonial bureaucracy supported the movement because they felt the crisis in the metropolises posed a threat to their privileged status in the colonies - their jobs and other incomes their position offered - and colonial people, especially owners of small and mediumsized land, were in danger of losing the land granted to them centuries before for farming. Supported by other domestic policies e.
But if there are only short-run gains in growth and those gains come at the cost of short-run static losses from protection, the attractiveness of import substitution is greatly diminished. It also suggests that there should be greater taxation as well as extremely protectionist trade policies. Hamilton economic program especially the magnum and report opus by Alexander Hamilton advocated for self-sufficiency of the U. Kenneth Sokoloff and Stanley Engerman explain the presence of these traditional interests through factor endowments. Moreover, the agricultural sector provided African workers with fairly higher salaries and social benefits, which resulted in an income rise, thus increasing the demand. In Ghana, where there were no state-owned companies at its independence in 1959, there were approximately 100 in the early 1960s.
In the 1950s, critics such as Argentine economist claimed that this division of labour would ensure continued poverty for primary-product producers. Due to the Great Depression, the price for Sub-Saharan Africa's crop exports fell sharply, thus causing income of the colonial Governments to drop dramatically; in spite of that, stimulus to industrial development was not allowed to expand, especially in Tanganyica now Tanzania which was taking the first steps in that direction. Employment Generation and Income Distribution: In general, countries adopting outward-looking strategy have done better than those which adopted inward-looking strategy. On contemplating the fairly successful development in the Latin American countries, they decided to adopt import substitution as a strategy to overcome poverty in the region; therefore, the sixties mark the first attempt at an industrialization policy for most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, plants were oversized, poorly designed, and badly located as a result of Governmental corruption; and production units financed and built by international agencies.
As Pearson 1969 and Kilby 1975 comment, the view of that business class was that the African industry was not going to increase its oil and ore consumption significantly. The theory targets the protection and of newly formed domestic to fully develop sectors so the goods produced are competitive with imported goods. This protectionist policy dominated in developing countries, especially… 1745 Words 7 Pages success of economic development. However, the policy concerning the colonies - interested in keeping Africa as a captive market for European manufactured goods - blocked their attempts at implementing industry, thus preventing the process from succeeding. Since 70 percent or more of the African population earns its income from agriculture, the urban bias that characterizes import substitution has resulted in a reduction in the real income of those who are among the poorest in the region 1981.