Was the Oil Sown Evenly? Long-Term Patterns of Regional Inequality in Venezuela (1881–2011)

This chapter presents new estimates for GDP and GDP per capita for the period 1881–2011 for the 23 states and Distrito Capital, which together with the Dependencias Federales, today make up the Republic of Venezuela. Given that the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) does not compile figures either for regional GDP or for the most recent period, calculating and presenting this new evidence is in itself an important contribution to our knowledge of the country’s economic reality. The descriptive evidence on regional income inequality in Venezuela presented in the text shows that its long-term evolution follows an inverted U-shaped curve. However, although inequality today is no greater than it was in 1881, along the road a huge gap has opened up between the GDP per capita levels of the coastal regions and those of the interior. This dynamic is the result of two elements. The first of these is the export of natural resources, basically hydrocarbons. The production of these is limited to a few locations across the territory, and this has benefitted just a few coastal territories (first-nature geographical cause). The second is the actions of the state. Although they have not always had the desired results, government spending policies brought about the conditions whereby some territories were able to take advantage of their geographical location, in this case to supply the domestic market, thus boosting their relative growth (second-nature geographical cause). In this sense it might be said that Venezuela sowed the oil, but unevenly.