Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

and timber contained and extracted from the Petén region were much lower than expected, due in
part to a world recession in the early 1970s (Calvert, 1985, 150). Moreover, a lack of arable land
and necessary infrastructure kept any significant numbers of voluntary settlers out of the Petén
region (Calvert, 1985, 150-151).
In the first and second periods the efforts to modernize the economy and diversify exports
had a positive or non-negative impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP growth rates, per
capita incomes, and total exports. The Guatemalan economy grew during the first and second
periods; from 1950 to 1960 GDP had more than doubled from US$447,000,000 to
US$1,021,000,000. The growth rate for GDP averaged 3.8% for the entire decade. But, the
largest increases in GDP growth rate occurred under Colonel Armas; between 1955 and 1956 the
GDP growth rate increased from 2.5 to 9.1. Per capita income at the start of the decade was
US$147 by 1960 it was US$257. Also, during the decade Guatemalan exports rose from 85
million (Quetzals) to 131 million (Quetzals). 24
24 At this time the Quetzal was pegged 1:1 with the U.S. dollar.
135
Unfortunately, one of the economic indicators that
could best describe how the level of economic growth affected the entire Guatemalan population,
the Gini Index, was not in use during the 1950s. Furthermore, per capita measurements and
national aggregate data can provide an indication as to the quality of life, but are not
measurements of the distribution of resources within a population. As a result, while the
available economic indicators for the first and second periods are nearly all positive two
important items must be considered, (1) the very low starting point of each of the economic
indicators and (2) the distribution of resources within the Guatemalan population. The level of
total external debt increased during the decade, from US$19 million to US$68 million. The level
of Official Development Assistance (ODA) also significantly increased from US$156,000 to