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Rural Poverty in Twentieth-Century Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Albert Berry
Albert Berry*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Economy, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1
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Extract

Until recently Colombia has been a mainly rural and agricultural country. At the turn of the century probably 65% to 75% of the labor force was in agriculture; by 1951 this share had fallen to about 55% and in 1975 to about 35%. The share of population in rural areas was a little higher. In 1900 perhaps 50% to 55% of output came from agriculture; though it remains the main producing sector, its share had fallen to 25% by 1974.

Colombia has always had a highly unequal distribution of income, the major historical cause being an extremely unequal distribution of land. Over the years economic policy could be fairly described as “urban biased,” so that the group to whose welfare public policy has contributed the least are the landless agricultural workers, including a good number of migrant workers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 1978 , pp. 355 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1978

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