| 1700s-1800s |
European cities grow through "natural" import substitution, as local
businesses form without government intervention or encouragement to supply
local production needs. |
| 1850s |
Several American trade-based or natural-resource-based towns grow and
develop through import substitution, with little or no public sector intervention.
Examples include St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati. |
late 1940s,
early 1950s |
After World War II, war machinery factories in Los Angeles are converted
to motor vehicle assembly and production. This is the first import
substitution involving automobiles in the American West. |
| 1950s-1960s |
Import substitution receives attention as a strategy for international
development, to counter dependency and lingering effects of European colonialism.
The idea is to protect and promote home-grown industries in former colonies,
but by most accounts, the strategy is a miserable failure. Third
world industries are hampered by pervasive inefficiency, domestic disorder,
and international competition (despite explicitly protectionist trade policies).
Underdeveloped nations continue to rely almost exclusively on imports for
manufactured and high-technology goods. |
| 1970s - present |
The practices of industry targeting and location incentives give encouragement
to import substitution at the regional level in the United States, as a
means of identifying which firms and industries to pursue. |
| 1990s |
Some argue that import substitution is out of date in the modern, globally-integrated
economy; regions should concentrate on the goods and services they
can produce most efficiently. Others answer that import substitution
yields income gains across the board, allowing regions to increase both
exports and imports while gaining the capacity to choose which goods
and services to import and which to produce locally. |
A simplified timeline of import substitution: