Looking at the years 1870-2016, this book analyses the reasons behind Colombia’s chronically slow economic growth. As a comparative economic history, it examines why Colombia has seen lower growth rates than countries with similar institutions, culture and colonial origins, such as Argentina in 1870-1914, Mexico in 1930-1980, and Chile from 1982 onwards. While Colombia's history has shown relative macroeconomic stability, it has also shown a limited capacity for integrating into the world economy and embracing technological breakthroughs compared to the rest of the world, including steam, mass production and Information Technology. This volume thus moves away from the long-held view that institutional path dependence is the main determinant of differences in long-run economic growth across countries.

Between 1850 and 1930 the local economies of several major primary-producing countries in Latin America became increasingly dependent on foreign trade. Professor McGreevey examines the relations between the external sector and the domestic economy by analysing the history of economic development in Colombia in this period. Part I traces the development of the economy from the period of exploitation under Spanish rule until 1845. In Part II the author makes an overall assessment of the movement of per capita product between 1845 and 1885. In order to assess the impact of trade on Colombian economic development Professor McGreevey has assembled a new and more reliable set of estimates of Colombian foreign trade between 1845 and 1930. He pays particular attention to the reasons for economic decline in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Part III examines the economic development of Colombia between 1890 and 1930 from a subsistence economy with little specialisation and exchange to a market-oriented agricultural economy with greater division of labour and a more extensive trade network. Professor McGreevey analyses the spectacular development of the Antioqueno region and the way in which coffee cultivation and transport improvements facilitated regional and national economic transformation.

This is the first English-language history of Colombia as a coffee-producer.