ABSTRACT
Import substitution in Latin America has been both accidental and deliberate and therefore has never been adequately planned. It was introduced through a number of governmental initiatives aimed at modifying industrial structure, as in the case of Brazil, Mexico, and, to a lesser extent, Venezuela. The industrial structure began to change in order to supply international markets. The increase in manufactured exports undertaken by several Latin American countries, including a number of the smaller nations, was outstanding. The fact that many Latin American countries were obliged to import petroleum products at the higher 1970s prices obviously obliged them to intensify their efforts to export manufactures. In the early 1970s a substantial improvement in the terms of trade took place, particularly--though not exclusively--on account of oil. Oil is usually considered separately from other commodities, but its price did rise for the oil-exporting Latin American countries.
