“The Export Boom as Modernity” Reflection
I was very munch conflicted by this week’s theme and the reading as well. Before I came to UBC, I had been taught about the early 20th century export boom already, and knew that it was very exploitative for former colonies, and extremely beneficial for imperial powers, such as the United Kingdom, for instance. In Brazil, coffee started being exported from the late 19th century onwards, and for a long time, its economy wouldn’t go beyond that of a mainly exporting country. It would sell its coffee beans, make a profit out of it, so that those who lived in richer, more developed countries, such as those in Europe, would have a good quality cup of coffee for themselves. Clearly, the less developed Latin American countries that were almost exclusively depending their economy on exporting goods, mainly agricultural ones, were given the “short side of the stick”.
At UBC, however, as I began to take Economics 101, I learned a very valuable lesson: “With trade, everyone gains”. The charts and diagrams that showed the benefits people had by trading goods instead of producing it for themselves were very convincing. The main idea behind them was that if parties decided to trade instead of keeping their produced goods to themselves, they would have more to benefit from, and that could be proved mathematically from the charts. That’s where my conflict arises: if exporting could be so detrimental to a country, why was I learning that it was positive.
The conclusion I came to was that there needs to be a balance between importing and exporting, meaning in order for countries in Latin America to become much more developed, they couldn’t just export, they would have to import goods as well. In addition, another problem lay with the elites who controlled the economy, and who made sure it didn’t develop more than it needed to so that they wouldn’t lose their grip to power. That’s why the “export boom” wasn’t a contributor to modernizing countries in South and Central America, because it only modernized so much in order to ensure oppressed citizens stayed where they belonged, producing exportable goods for the elites.
Hey Daniel, I really liked that you mentioned econ 101’s “with trade, everyone gains” phrase because I was taught that too. And I always had a problem with such a broad stroke statement like that because it’s shown time and time again it just isn’t true. I found that the only people who push that idea are western, more developed countries who encourage or coerce developing countries to open their borders. I agree with you, trade can be good if developed countries don’t exploit developing countries but I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon. And I also agree with you on that a significant portion of the blame is on the ruling class who keep the profits for themselves and let their people suffer. Anyways, thanks for sharing I liked reading your blog!