The IADB report provides a balanced assessment of that episode. Though import substitution and subsidies were initially successful in igniting industrialization, lack of scale soon hindered efforts (a country of a few million cannot hope to have an auto industry aimed only at the domestic market).
怀疑派还指出，拉丁美洲已经在20世纪六七十年代经历过一轮产业政策，效果只能说差强人意。泛美开发银行的报告提供了关于这段历史的平衡的评估。尽管进口替代和补贴在点燃工业化方面一开始取得了一些成功，但规模的欠缺很快就形成了掣肘（一个只有几百万人口的国家是不可能拥有只面向国内市场的汽车业的）。