Our economy in the nineteen sixties

Abstract

There were three major events in the 1960s. The first was the signing of the EFTA agreement, which contributed to the development of the Portuguese economy and helped to make it more international. The benefits for Portugal were the number of new markets, the quality of exports, as well as the foreign investments that were introduced. The second event was the colonial war which reduced investment in infrastructures such as the road network, communications, and public housing projects. A large number of people were mobilized to go to the war. The third event was emigration. This slowed down the rate of demographic growth, had the financial effect of encouraging the remittance of money, and, with the tendency to buy small plots of land, encouraged the minifúndio, which is the fragmentation of land ownership. In short: a major change in the Portuguese economy, an impulse towards material growth, a profound demographic and social transformation.