HIST 286 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Latin American Economy, Scientific Racism, Tenant Farmer
Document Summary
Export economies, boom times, and the transformation of latin. In late 1800s, latin america had established itself as a producer of agricultural and mineral products, not manufactured goods. Other countries became industrial processes of raw materials and sellers of finished industrial goods. Latin america had a choice and in choosing to provide raw materials to the world market , they made the wrong choice (one argument) Spanish and portuguese economies largely based on agriculture and minerals. Foreign powers, particularly the british, used their substantial political and economic leverage to convince latin american countries not to industrialize, but rather, provide materials that would make the british economy effective in industrializing. Lack of an effective state or legal system to enforce contracts. Earn money with as little long-term investment as possible. Most rational economic activities under those conditions were importing and exporting. Adaptive entrepreneurial strategies started looking more and more as the only strategy that made sense.
