Editing Economy of Uruguay (section)

=== Mid-20th century ===
The Uruguay economy shifted from an agriculture-dominated economy to an industrial economy from the period 1930 to 1955.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Bell |first=James P. |date=1971 |title=Uruguay's Economic Evolution: 1900 to 1968 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45348928 |journal=SAIS Review (1956-1989) |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=27–35 |issn=0036-0775}}</ref> This shift led to a sluggish economy, as Uruguay neglected its [[comparative advantage]], diverting resources away from a productive agricultural sector to an inefficient, unproductive manufacturing sector.<ref name=":2" /> The government sought to bolster its manufacturing sector with [[import substitution industrialization]], disincentivizing imports.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Daniel|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1102765674|title=Life without lead : contamination, crisis, and hope in Uruguay|date=2019|isbn=978-0-520-96824-0|location=Oakland, California|pages=51–82|language=English|chapter=Chapter 2: This is Not a Game|oclc=1102765674}}</ref>  From the 1950s onwards, the Uruguay economy was in decline.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Socolow |first=Susan M. |date=1966 |title=Uruguay Today |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/currenthistory/article-abstract/51/303/270/166626/Uruguay-Today?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Current History |volume=51 |issue=303 |pages=270–275 |doi=10.1525/curh.1966.51.303.270 |issn=0011-3530}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

[[Anthropology]] professor Daniel Renfrew describes both the 50s and 60s and dictatorship period (70s and 80s) as economic downturn periods, followed by further economic degradation caused by neoliberalism.<ref name=":0" /> Economist Jamie Mezzera disagrees with this interpretation, arguing that between 1968 and 1972, Uruguay was one of the most regulated capitalist economies in the world. In this period, the government massively increased import tariffs and had near-total wage and [[price controls]]. The government instituted these policies to avoid the political pressure that would come if they were to devalue their currency.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jamie |first1=Mezzera |title=FREE TRADE AND MARKETS BUT ONLY AS LONG AS WAGES ARE UNDER CONTROL: THE CASE OF URUGUAY IN THE 70s |journal=Center for Latin American Development Studies |series=52 |date=July 1982 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.22004/ag.econ.263626 }}</ref> Between 1955 and 1972, economic output in Uruguay stagnated. After the price and wage controls were largely removed in 1973, growth increased by 4.3% per year until 1979.

The policies of the [[Colorado Party (Uruguay)|Colorado Party]] under [[Julio María Sanguinetti]] and [[Jorge Batlle]] during the 90s and early 2000s, following global trends of neo-liberalization, facilitated a shift from manufacturing and small-scale agriculture, towards increasing [[monoculture]] agriculture and services like finance and [[Tourism in Uruguay|tourism]].<ref name=":0" /> However, these policies faded as the regional economic problems in Argentina and Brazil caused a downturn and unemployment from 1998 to 2003.<ref name=":0" /> The economic and social crises that followed allowed for the election of the [[Broad Front (Uruguay)|Broad Front]] a leftist coalition against the neoliberal policies.<ref name=":0" />