In 1898, the Americans intervened in the Philippines even though they knew nothing about

the state of the economy of the Philippines. The Americans have shown their interest in
plantation development and protection of domestic agriculture while the Filipinos showed
objection to closer trade relations with the United States. Despite these objections, the case
favoured the Americans. The Congress also granted 1024 hectares (per corporation) to the
Philippine Commission despite their plea to make large grants of public land. The land that
was purchased did not go to the cultivators but to wealthy speculators.

Moreover, to make Philippine agriculture more efficient and equitable, the United States
introduced homesteading and regularization of land titles, etc. as well as introduced programs
like advanced agrarian technology and agricultural credit. However, these programs were ill-
planned and had no substantial impact. The fiscal and monetary policies that were also
designed by the Americans had produced stability rather than change. The tax structure
designed by the Americans did not force people into agriculture nor automatically create
inequality, but neither did it destroy inequities or encourage industry. The Americans have
stabilized the Philippine money, but they also removed the possibility of autonomous
currency manipulation by trying the peso to the dollar. On the other hand, the Americans saw
many developments that needs assessment such as population growth, democracy, mass
education, etc. yet most of these developments fall largely under "modernization" rather than
"Americanization”.

The tariff policy proposed by the Americans also focused on motives rather than
consequences. The Spanish system of tariffs and exports were retained and are somewhat
rationalized by the Americans, while applying the rates of the 1897 Dingley Tariff to
Philippine products entering the United States. Virtual free trade between the United States
and the Philippines also came with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909 and the Underwood
Tariff of 1913 except for quotas on sugar and tobacco.

On the other hand, the tariff policy after 1909is seen have discouraged potential investment in
Philippine industry and prevented development of a Japanese style re-export industry. The
restrictions on trade heavily affected processed products such as coconut oil and cordage
while raw materials such as copra and abaca remained on the “free list”. However, there is no
evidence to prove that the tariff policy did retard the Philippine industrialization. The
Philippines remains as agrarian but perceptible shift toward manufacturing and processing in
the non-agrarian section was made and there was substantial growth. The evidence rather
suggests that the long-term unwillingness to tamper with agriculture has been the primary
obstacle to development.

The Americans have many lapses such as effective land reform, adequate investment in
agricultural credit and technology, etc. But the inability to curb the Filipino agricultural elite
and redefine the Philippine interest as progressive rather than static is their most profound
failure. The money remains at the hands of the wealthy, and the poor continue to suffer.
Inequality was not created during the American period, but the Americans did not show any
attempt to remove or reduce it. The Philippine agriculture during the American period was
not unprofitable but the profit increased problems rather than solved them. Maybe, the
Americans from the very beginning have decided that they would accept the Philippines and
its interest as they have found it and had no interest in changing it.

In Philippine economic history, the American period is not very different from either the late
Spanish period or the early Republican period. The American inputs such as the
homesteading and tariffs had less impact on the economy of the Philippines and there is no
accurate measure as to whether the Filipinos were better off in 1941 than they had been in
1896. However, the failure of the Americans to transform the economy of the Philippines to
justify their intervention, is history.