ABSTRACT
The Great Depression, beginning with the US stock market collapse of October 1929, had a profound influence on Latin American economies, politics, and societies. The depression, which led to a staggering 33–40 percent unemployment rate in the United States, meant that US consumers could no longer afford to buy Latin American goods. The world economy recovered slowly, spurred on by the onset of war in Europe. But the Great Depression dramatically, and permanently, altered the terms of trade between the Latin American economies and the economies of the “developed world.” Latin American leaders began to believe that “industry” was the key to economic stability and long-term growth for the region. The challenge, then, during the period after World War II, would be to finance, develop, and sustain national industries that could compete with imports from the industrialized countries such as the United States and western Europe.
