A STUDY OF INDUSTRIALIZATION IN COLOMBIA: PART I, ANALYSIS,
Abstract
Part I of a two-part study on Colombian industrialization describes three key characteristics of Colombia's manufacturing sector that contribute to the country's economic difficulties: low productivity; a structure that is heavy on consumer goods industries and light on intermediate and capital goods industries; and the small size of the manufacturing sector relative to the total economy. The interaction of these three characteristics poses a problem that is compounded by the falloff in coffee export earnings and a failure to develop major new sources of nonmanufacturing export earnings. The study shows that low productivity in industry could take care of itself to a considerable extent if the modern subsectors could expand rapidly. However, this would require imports and a large amount of capital, which would have to come from two sources: foreign exchange and domestic savings. The analysis suggests that increasing domestic savings would tend to cause a rise in unemployment due to curtailed activity in consumer goods industry, but that an increase in foreign exchange would permit the modern sector of Colombia's manufacturing industry to be expanded without high unemployment. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0663407
Entities
People
- Richard R. Nelson
Organizations
- RAND Corporation