The Interventionist Policy to the Venezuelan Economy of Isaías Medina Angarita in a Context of War (1941-1945)

Abstract

During the mandate of Isaías Medina Angarita (1941-1945), Venezuela lived unpublished transformations that underpinned a model of modernization concretized years after the coup d'état of 1945. His management takes place in the middle of World War II and petroleum was essential for the United States. Medina took advantage of such situation to enact the Hydrocarbons and Income Tax laws. It was a quantitative and qualitative quantum leap with respect to previous legislations. Awareness was created that the country should have a better share of petroleum profits and take advantage of those resources to boost economic diversity. Revenues to the Treasury grew significantly, which allowed the design of important social policies. This study reconstructs the history of the initial attempt to "oil sowing" to overcome the rentier model and advocate diversified industrialization, and presents some conflicting views of the liberal principles of the economy. To this end, the discourses of political and intellectual actors of that period are analyzed.