Regional trade integration and industrialization: Colombia and South America in the first half of the 20th Century
- Autores: María Isabel Restrepo Estrada
- Directores de la Tesis: Antonio Tena Junguito (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ( España ) en 2017
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Pablo Astorga Junquera (presid.), Marc Badia i Miró (secret.), Daniel A. Tirado Fabregat (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Historia Económica
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: e-Archivo
- Resumen
This thesis includes three studies to assess historical evidence of the failure of Colombia and South America to achieve regional integration and the role played by exports other than coffee in the period of greatest industrial development in Colombia during the 20th Century. A wide range of theories and empirical models are deployed for this purpose. First regional integration is evaluated in the whole American continent with a new database of global bilateral trade for two time periods: 1870-1913 versus 1914-1950, and from this study the Andean countries, and particularly Colombia, emerge as the least regionally integrated territories.
Following this, the performance of other Colombian exports apart from traditional coffee exports, is evaluated with the aid of a new database of exports at a product level between 1922 and 1950. The high dependence of Colombia on coffee exports underlines the importance of manufacturing exports on regional-integration levels. This leads to an examination of the role of intensive and extensive exports in the international trading pattern of Colombia, in a period in which one of the most important periods of industrial expansion took place in the country (with a consequent increase in the range of products exported by the country, in terms of numbers but not of value). Finally, the role of intra-industry trade at the regional integration levels is assessed with a new database by products exported/imported to/from seven South American countries for 1922, 1928, 1935, 1942 and 1950.
This research proved that there was greater regional integration with countries with similar factor endowments in terms of intra-industry trade, and that more regional trade occurs when countries have a convergent regional demand structure, reflected in income differentials. In addition, it was found that in the case of Colombia, border sharing did not facilitate regional trade since geographical barriers made land trade very difficult with most bordering countries. Furthermore, other trade costs have arisen that can help to explain the failure of regional integration. Poverty levels, as well as low demand and recurrent dependence on merchant fleets in North America and Europe, had counterproductive effects on regional trade levels.
Finally, there was a wide variation in the number of exported products and destinations. Colombia exported a large number of products to nearby countries and even had a closer relationship with countries of Central America and the Caribbean than with some of its neighbors in the South. However, there was a limited duration period of some products in several markets, especially new industrial products. The new industrial manufacturers sought to supply the growing domestic demand and exports continued to rely on a few natural products. The entry of new products in the regional market was in some cases subject to external shocks. The regional trade boom during World War II emerged as a compensation for the fall in European demand, but once reopened this market began to decline and returned to pre-war levels.
