Food import substitution in Argentina during the First Globalization, 1870-1913. Did trade protection matter?

PEREZ CAJIAS, JOSE; RAYES, AGUSTINA

Congreso; XXVIII World Economic History Congress; 2018

International Economic Association - Massachussetts Institute of Technology

The seminal work by Coatsworth and Williamson (2004) has confirmed an idea that was previously defended by several Latin American scholars: trade policy during the First Globalization was not as liberal as normally thought. In contrast, by looking at the tariff average rate, these scholars suggest that Latin America was the most protectionist region in the world from the early 1820s to 1929. However, despite the high rates of average tariffs, the protectionist effect of trade policy has been put into question (Rubio, 2006; Nenci & Pietrobelli, 2008; Peres-Cajías, 2017). This paper seeks to evaluate this controversy by looking at the import substitution industrialization in Argentina, the leading economy in the region on this issue. Particularly, it analyzes if food industries growth in Argentinean coastal provinces was an automatic process derived from market expansion or the result of protectionist measures.