Portugal's Growth Paradox, 1870-1950

Abstract

From 1870 to 1913, the Portuguese economy expanded slowly and diverged from the European core. Contrarily, in the interwar period, Portugal achieved higher growth and partially caught-up to the levels of productivity of Western Europe. Higher growth in Portugal after World War I occurred in a framework of protection, increasing state intervention, and capital deepening. Agriculture responded more positively than manufacturing, revealing important changes in its structure which favored output with higher levels of factor productivity. Portugal’s pattern of growth across 1870-1950 was not unique within the European periphery, but it contrasted with Latin America’s experience.economic growth, European periphery, state intervention, protectionism.