Unwinding the Winding Trajectory: the Divergence between National Accounts and State Planning, Argentina 1937-1948

HERNÁN GONZÁLEZ BOLLO

Histoire & Mesure

Éditions de l'EHESS

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2017 vol. 32 p. 141 - 160

0982-1783

This article argues that from the mid-1930s and throughout 1940 two groups of experts wereformed within the Argentine state that had responsibilities in the design andimplementation of economic programmes and policies. Each grouphad its own vision of the national economy, based on their specific use ofstatistics. On the one hand, a closed and stable team of government economists withinthe OIE of the Argentine Central Bank was forged. The creative ability of thisgroup paved the way for updated estimates of national income. On theother, a group of civil servants with substantial experience on regulating theeconomy was created. The latter group, which developed close ties to Perónsince 1943, was responsible for the First Five-Year Plan without going throughthe interpretative matrix of national accounting. This examination is based onthe notions of the sociology of quantification framework which argues that statisticsdevelop together with public and private efforts to organise and controlsociety.