Import-Substitution Industrialization Policies in the Dominican Republic, 1925-61

Abstract

A s was the case with other Latin American countries at the turn of the twentieth century, the Dominican Republic developed an export-oriented economy based on the production of tropical products. Until about i88o, the Dominican economy was supported by the exports of tobacco and mahogany, but its export sector expanded considerably after undergoing a sugar revolution between 1875 and 1884.1 The economy grew even more in the following decades due to the development of extensive plantations of coffee and cacao. These became an important source of income for the peasant population and helped expand the limited internal market because of the increased circulation of foreign exchange. The export boom between i88o and 1920 resulted in the expansion and consolidation of a mercantile sector and an urban merchant class highly dependent on the export-import economy, while at the same time it favored growth of the artisan class which traditionally had been limited by the small size of the local market.3 The commercial directories published between 1897 and 1920 list an increasing number of small factories and workshops in the sugar-producing centers of Santo Domingo, Azuia,