From boom to burst: Argentine's primary sector, 1900s-1930s.

DJENDEREDJIAN, JULIO / MARTIREN, JUAN LUIS

Boston

Congreso; World Economic History Congress; 2018

World Economic History Association

Between 1895 and 1914 Argentina experienced a huge economic growth,ranking among the wealthiest countries in the world by the outbreak of WWI.That process was promoted by a great boom in the agrarian sector, which boosteda fast industrial development and a construction fever. Nevertheless, from 1913onwards, these ?best days? started to fall behind. This new conjuncture beganwith a cycle of stronger volatility in commodity prices before the outbreak ofWWI, but became evident after the crash started in 1929. Economic literaturehas pointed out that the particular role and characteristics of the agrariansector had a deep involvement in the fall of the Argentine economy,particularly taking into account that productivity limits for extensive growthhad been reached in 1914, and no more expansion would be possible if notpreceded by high capital investment. But for a country that has beentraditionally a borrower, this was not an easy task in war and post war times.Rather than that, it seems that the question is why the Argentine economy'sbest performing sector, agriculture, has not been able to generate a higherinvestment rate. In this paper we will try to test that, by measuring factorproductivity of the agrarian sector, and relating it to the performance of thewhole economy, particularly manufacturing and construction sectors.