Philippines Marcos authoritarian economy

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Authoritarian developmentalist project that degenerated into kleptocracy. Early Marcos years (1965-72) continued import- substitution industrialisation behind tariffs and the peso peg. Martial law (21 Sept 1972) centralised economic control, created state marketing monopolies for sugar (PHILSUCOM) and coconut (UCPB / coconut levy), launched debt-financed 'eleven major industrial projects' (KKK) and Metro Manila beautification, and directed bank credit to cronies. World Bank and IMF lending financed balance-of-payments deficits through the late 1970s. A 1981 corporate-debt crisis (Dewey Dee flight), 1983 Aquino assassination, and 1984-85 balance-of-payments crisis produced two peso devaluations (1983, 1984), IMF standby arrangements, and severe contraction (GDP -7% in both 1984 and 1985). The regime ended in the February 1986 EDSA People Power uprising leaving $28bn external debt, documented plunder estimated at $5-10bn, and a decade of lost growth — a canonical failure case of authoritarian developmentalism without institutional constraint.