Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. Edited by Jeffrey Quilter and John W. Hoopes. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2003. Pp. x, 429. Illustrations. Tables. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $30.00 cloth.
Rocchi's thesis is so provocative and his empirical findings so rich that a brief review cannot do the book justice. His study will be a source of debate among economic historians for years to come. Though he presents his findings at times with a tone of irrefutability, they are more likely to stimulate heated discussion, some to be questioned and perhaps a few disproved outright. Certainly the book ends on a most debatable proposition, that of a seamless transition from the liberal order to the Peron era. Rocchi argues that industrialization policies were essentially the same, different only in "degree." If by "degree" he means under Peron a state monopolizing foreign trade to promote industry, a nationalized banking system and new public banks intended to subsidize industry, social policies that increased enormously the size of the domestic market and greatly contributed to industrial growth, and even attempts at national economic planning through the two "Five Year Plans," one can agree with his characterization.