More souls to feed: the population impact on prices in late colonial Alto Peru and Buenos Aires

CUESTA, EDUARDO MARTÍN; AGUSTINA VENCE CONTI

Cambios y Permanencias

Universidad Industrial de Santander

Lugar: Bucaramanda; Año: 2019 vol. 10 p. 403 - 434

The aim of this paper is to trace and analyze the price behavior during the eighteenth century in two regions of the Spanish Empire: Alto Peru and Buenos Aires. These two zones had a divergent economic performance; while one of them showed an economic take-off the other became stagnant.The objective is to compare both regions in order to show how price fluctuations were in fact the result of relative changes in the factor endowments. In this particular case two mass consumption products are considered: meat and wheat.Based on primary sources, the paper will show us that population and commercial growth translated into a relative increase in the price of wheat with respect to that of meat.In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith considered the impact of changes of factor endowments on prices. It is necessary to analyze thoroughly the available sources, as well as the price historiography up to the moment, to prove, quantitatively and qualitatively, the moment and conditions of such changes and the differences which took place in Alto Peru and Buenos Aires.