El desempeño económico global: del modelo agro exportador a la industrialización sustitutiva de importaciones. La economí­a uruguaya 1900-1955 (I)

This is the first of three papers that study the Uruguayan economy between 1900 and 1955. It is considered the global economic performance of Uruguay during the first half of the 20th century, when the country experienced "its best" period of economic growth in contrast with the worst performance of the second half of the century. In the first part we provide a general characterization of the period identifying two development models: the agro-export led growth since the end 19th century until its crisis towards the First World War, a transition period with innovative changes, and then, the development of the import substitution industrialization in 1943-1944. During the first period growth depended on cattle export while in the second the manufacturing for the domestic market was the principal motor for growth. In the second and third part of this paper we study the economy before and after 1930 as a benchmark between two periods: the end of an expansive phase and the depression until the end of the Second World War when the country experienced a rapid economic growth. For each of these sub-periods we bring a synthesis of the international economy, the global economic performance and some general features of the social context. Finally, we provide the principle results of this paper and we related them with other economic history topics: openness and growth; the effect of external shocks, the relation State-Economy, and the role of the external sector in the long run.