Economic development in Colombia since the early twentieth century

This article analyses Colombia’s economic growth performance since the early twentieth century, the evolution of the public policies that have contributed to this and its main effects on social development and regional inequalities. Economic performance is divided into three periods: 1905–1929, 1930–1980 and 1981–2023. The first was characterized by the expansion of coffee production, an infrastructure investment boom and the beginning of oil extraction. The second saw the consolidation of industrial development and the diversification of agricultural production and exports. The last was characterized by increased State provision of social services, administrative decentralization and liberalization of foreign trade and the financial system, a combination whose economic results were deindustrialization, export reprimarization (with oil as the main product) and increased macroeconomic volatility.