ABSTRACT
The basic goal of the members of the Central American Common Market was rapid economic growth. The "basis by which they measured the success of the economic integration program was the extent to which the Common Market helped to create the conditions for accelerated growth. The Central American elites supported Economic Commission for Latin America's (ECLA) doctrine of industrialization through economic integration for two reasons. The primary reason was that they believed that ECLA's plan would lead to rapid and sustained economic growth. But the second reason, the desire to modernize their economies through industrialization, was also important. Although ECLA's portrayal of the obstacles to development of the Central American economies and their solution was inaccurate, the Central American elites eventually subscribed to the ECLA thesis because it offered them a concrete program of economic development. ECLA's generalizations about the common fate of all primary producing countries ignored some important differences among the Central American economies.
