The Problem of Industrialization

Abstract

Another aspect of the economic situation which has much influence on the problem of immigration remains to be considered. We have seen that Brazil, like all the other under-developed Latin American countries, would have had little interest in industrialization if the value of primary products had risen with that of manufactured products in international trade. This not having taken place, the country was forced to seek a remedy by introducing industrialization. Its object was not economic self-sufficiency, but rather to free itself from that condition of economic dependence upon other nations which characterized it, in order to improve the standard of living of its citizens. A policy of self-sufficiency aims at establishing those industries whose products are the main items of Brazil’s imports; a policy of national welfare aims, on the contrary, at establishing those industries only whose products can be obtained by home production at less cost than by importation.