From private to public statistic: a brief history of the Argentine consumer price index

LANATA BRIONES, CECILIA; DANIEL, CLAUDIA

Chiffres privés, chiffres publics XVIIe-XXIe siècle. Entre hybridations et conflits

Presses Universitaires de Rennes

Año: 2022; p. 101 - 121

Nowadays a group of statistics help economic and social agents navigate the economy and make decisions. The consumer price index (CPI), gross domestic product, unemployment, among other estimates, depict and construct reality. These statistics are generally, though not exclusively, produced by national statistical agencies. The public and official seal is one of the characteristics that contributes to the perception of objectivity of and generates trust in numbers. However, the boundaries between public and private statistics can be blurred. Moreover, the trajectory of a quantification tool is not inevitably linear. In its origins the Argentine CPI was an economic indicator rather than a socio-labour index like its contemporaries. In the 1930s, however, the aim of the indicator changed and it progressively developed other political functions and uses. Lastly, the political relevance of the CPI flourished during its recent crisis, when official figures became affected by a confidence deficit consequence of the political intervention in the elaboration of the index. Since then, the official CPI lost international validity and its publication was vanished from specialised publications and reports of international organisations. The study of the history of the Argentine CPI is ongoing. This chapter aims to shed light onto the fluctuations the index experienced between the private and public spheres in three successive periods: 1. when liberal Argentina faltered with the First World War, 2. during the years of industrial expansion in which the state increased its presence within the economy and society, and 3. throughout the model of accumulation and development configured after the 2001/2 crisis. The index's movements have been closely intertwined, particularly during its birth and between 2007 and 2015. The discussion of the origins of the Argentine CPI, is followed by an analysis of how the index became a public, official figure, emphasising on the changes Argentina and the CPI experienced in the 1930s and in the second half of the twentieth century. The next section focuses on the official CPI's crisis of confidence (2007-2015) and the rise of alternative figures. The last section concludes.