Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:37:12.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Staple Products, Linkages, and Development: Evidence from Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2021

Federico Droller  and
Martin Fiszbein
Federico Droller
Affiliation:
Federico Droller is Associate Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Departamento de Economía, Chile. Av. Lib. B. O’Higgins 3363, Estación Central, RM, Chile. E-mail: [email protected].
Martin Fiszbein*
Affiliation:
Martin Fiszbein is Assistant Professor, Boston University – Economics, 270 Bay State Rd, Boston, MA 02115.
*
E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigate how historical patterns of primary production influenced development across local economies in Argentina. Our identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in the composition of primary production induced by climatic features. We find that locations specializing in ranching had weaker linkages with other activities, higher concentration in land ownership, lower population density, and less immigration than cereal-producing areas. Over time, ranching localities continued to exhibit lower population density, and they experienced relatively sluggish industrialization. Ultimately, ranching specialization had large negative effects on long-run levels of income per capita and human capital.

Type
Article
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 723 - 762
Copyright
© The Economic History Association 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We thank Samuel Bazzi, William Collins, James Fenske, Eric Hilt, Kevin Lang, Emiliano Libman, Max McDevitt, Dilip Mookherjee, Santiago Pérez, Agustina Rayes, Marcelo Rougier, and Gabriella Santangelo as well as seminar participants at the University of Ottawa, Universidad de Chile, Boston University, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, the Economic History Clio Lab Meetings at PUC-Chile, the RIDGE Workshop on Macroeconomics and Development, the Economic History Conference at Universidad de San Andrés, the RIDGE Workshop on Economic History, and the LANE HOPE seminar for helpful comments. All errors are our own. Federico Droller acknowledges support from FONDECYT (grant 11170498, Proyecto FONDECYT Iniciación, CONICYT, Chile).

References

REFERENCES

Adamopoulos, Tasso. “Land Inequality and the Transition to Modern Growth.” Review of Economic Dynamics 11, no. 2 (2008): 257–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Treb, and Dave, Donaldson. “Persistence and Path Dependence in the Spatial Economy.” NBER Working Paper No. 28059, Cambridge, MA, November 2020.Google Scholar
Altman, Morris. “Staple Theory and Export-Led Growth: Constructing Differential Growth.” Australian Economic History Review 43, no. 3 (2003): 230–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, Robert E. “Patterns of Development in Newly Settled Regions.” The Manchester School 24, no. 2 (1956): 161–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartelme, Dominick, and Yuriy, Gorodnichenko. “Linkages and Economic Development.” NBER Working Paper No. 21251, Cambridge, MA, June 2015.Google Scholar
Bil, Damián. “La industria argentina de maquinaria agrícola, 1870-1975: Evolución y problemas de su desarrollo.” Documentos de Jovenes Investigadores, no. 16 (2009a).Google Scholar
Bil, Damián. Mercado y Fabricacaón de Maquinaria e Implementos Agrícolas en la Argentina (1870-1940).” Cuadernos de Historia, Serie Economia y Sociedad 11 ( 2009 b): 7-32. Google Scholar
Bleakley, Hoyt, and Jeffrey, Lin. “Portage and Path Dependence.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 2 (2012): 587–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruhn, Miriam, and Gallego, Francisco A.. “Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Do They Matter for Economic Development?” Review of Economics and Statistics 94, no. 2 (2012): 433–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bustos, Paula, Bruno, Caprettini, and Jacopo, Ponticelli. “Agricultural Productivity and Structural Transformation: Evidence from Brazil.” American Economic Review 106, no. 6 (2016): 1320-65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Jie, and Nan, Li. “Growth through Inter-Sectoral Knowledge Linkages.” Review of Economic Studies 86, no. 5 (2019): 1827–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campi, Mercedes . Tierra, tecnología e innovación: El desarrollo agrario pampeano en el largo plazo, 1860-2007. Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2012.Google Scholar
Caves, Richard. “Export-Led Growth and the New Economic History.” In Trade, Balance of Payments and Growth, edited by Jagdish, N. Bhagwati et al., 403-42. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1971.Google Scholar
Caves, Richard E., and Richard H, Holton . The Canadian Economy: Prospect and Retrospect, vol. 112. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colella, Fabrizio, Rafael, Lalive, Seyhun O., Sakalli, and Mathias, Thoenig. “Inference with Arbitrary Clustering.” IZA Discussion Paper No. 12584 106, no. 5 (2019): 61-67.Google Scholar
Comision, Nacional del Censo. Censo Agropecuario Nacional. La Ganadería y la Agricultura en 1908. Buenos Aires: Talleres de Publicaciones de la Oficina Metereologica Nacional, 1909.Google Scholar
Comision, Nacional del Censo.Tercer Censo Nacional. Buenos Aires: Talleres gráficos de L.J. Rosso, 1916-1919.Google Scholar
Conde, R. C. “Cambios históricos en la estructura de la production agropecuaria en la argentina utilizatión de los recursos.” Desarrollo Económico (1966): 493-509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conley, Timothy G. “GMM Estimation with Cross Sectional Dependence.” Journal of Econometrics 92, no. 1 (1999): 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortés, Conde, Roberto. “Algunos rasgos de la expansión territorial en Argentina en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX.” Desarrollo económico (1968): 3-29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dell, Melissa, and Benjamin, Olken. “The Development Effects of the Extractive Colonial Economy: The Dutch Cultivation System in Java.” Review of Economics Studies 87, no. 1 (2020): 164–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Della Paolera, Gerardo, and Ezequiel, Gallo. “Epilogue: The Argentine Puzzle.” In A New Economic History of Argentina, vol. 1, edited by Gerardo della Paolera and Alan M. Taylor, 369-75. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Di Telia, Guido, and Manuel, Zymelman. Las etapas del desarrollo económico argentine. Buenos Aires: Editorial Paidos, 1973.Google Scholar
Díaz, Alejandro, Carlos, F. Essays on the Economic History of the Argentine Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Droller, Federico. “Migration, Population Composition and Long Run Economic Development: Evidence from Settlements in the Pampas.” Economic Journal 128, no. 614 (2018): 2321–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Droller, Federico, and Martin, Fiszbein. “Staple Products, Linages, and Development: Evidence from Argentina.” Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-07-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E144902V1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyster, Barrie. “Argentine and Australian Development Compared.” Past & Present 84 (1979): 91–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earle, C., and Ronald, Hoffman. “The Foundation of the Modern Economy: Agriculture and the Costs of Labor in the United States and England, 1800-60.” American Historical Review 85, no. 5 (1980): 1055–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberhardt, Markus, and Dietrich, Vollrath. “The Effect of Agricultural Technology on the Speed of Development.” World Development 109 (2018): 483–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Fabian, and Michael, Peters. “Spatial Structural Change.” Unpublished Manuscript, 2018.Google Scholar
Ellison, Glenn, Edward L, Glaeser, and William R., Kerr. “What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns.” American Economic Review 100 (2010): 1195-213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engerman, Stanley L., and Kenneth L., Sokoloff. “Factor Endowments, Institutions, and Differential Paths of Growth Among New World Economies” In How Latin America Fell Behind: Essays on the Economic Histories of Brazil and Mexico, 1800-1914, edited by Stephen Haber. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Engerman, Stanley L., and Kenneth L., Sokoloff. “Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development Among New World Economics.” NBER Working Paper No. 9259, Cambridge, MA, October 2002.Google Scholar
Fajgelbaum, Pablo, and Redding, Stephen J.. “Trade, Structural Transformation and Development: Evidence from Argentina 1869-1914.” NBER Working Paper No. 20217, Cambridge, MA, June 2014.Google Scholar
Ferreres, Orlando J. et al. Dos siglos de economía argentina (1810-2004): Historia argentina en cifras. Buenos Aires: Fundación Norte y Sur, 2005.Google Scholar
Free, B. J. Seasonal Employment in Agriculture. Washington, DC: GPO, 1938.Google Scholar
Gaignard, Romain. La Pampa argentina: Ocupación, poblamiento, explotación: De la conquista a la crisis mundial (1550-1930). Buenos Aires: Solar, 1989. Google Scholar
Galiani, Sebastian, Daniel, Heymann, Carlos, Dabus, and Fernando, Tohmé. “On the Emergence of Public Education in Land-Rich Economies.” Journal of Development Economics 86, no. 2 (2008): 434-46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, Ezequiel. “Agrarian Expansion and Industrial Development in Argentina, 18801930.” In Latin American Affairs (St. Antony’s Papers, no. 22), edited by Raymond Carr. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Galor, Oded, Omer, Moav, and Dietrich, Vollrath. “Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence.” Review of Economic Studies 76, no. 1 (2009): 143-79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, Roberto C. “River Plate Meat Industry since c. 1900: Technology, Ownership, International Trade Regimes and Domestic Policy.” Ph.D. thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2000.Google Scholar
Geller, Lucio. “El crecimiento industrial argentino hasta 1914 y la teoría del bien primario exportable.” El Trimestre Económico 37, no. 148(4) (1970): 763–811.Google Scholar
Gerchunoff, Pablo, and Iván, Torre. “¿Estaba la población argentina en el lugar equivocado? Un enfoque de economía política sobre las migraciones (18801914).” Desarrollo Económico (2014): 35-62.Google Scholar
Giberti, Horacio. Historia económica de la ganadería argentina. Buenos Aires: Solar, 1961.Google Scholar
Goldin, Claudia, and Kenneth, Sokoloff. “The Relative Productivity Hypothesis of Industrialization: The American Case, 1820 to 1850.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 99, no. 3 (1984): 461–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollin, Douglas. “Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth.” Handbook of Agricultural Economics 4 (2010): 3825–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanlon, Walker W., and Antonio Miscio. “Agglomeration: A Long-Run Panel Data Approach.” Journal of Urban Economics 99 (2017): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausmann, Ricardo, and Hidalgo, César A.. “The Network Structure of Economic Output.” Journal of Economic Growth 16, no. 4 (2011): 309–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. The Strategy of Economic Development. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. “A Generalized Linkage Approach to Development, with Special Reference to Staples.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 25 ( 1977 ): 67-98. Google Scholar
Hora, Roy. The Landowners of the Argentine Pampas: A Social and Political History 1860-1945. New York: Clarendon Press, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IIASA/FAO. Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ v3.0). Laxenburg, Austria, and FAO, Rome, Italy: IIASA, 2012.Google Scholar
Innis, Harold A. The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1930.Google Scholar
Innis, Harold A. The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1940.Google Scholar
Johnston, Bruce F., and John W. Mellor. “The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development.” American Economic Review 51, no. 4 (1961): 566–93.Google Scholar
Jones, Charles I. “Intermediate Goods and Weak Links in the Theory of Economic Development.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics (2011): 1-28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornblihtt, Juan. “Los empresarios molineros argentinos ante los límites de las exportaciones harineras a principios de siglo xx.” H-industr@: Revista de historia de la industria, los servicios y las empresas en América Latina 6 (2013): 1.Google Scholar
Kuntz-Ficker, Sandra, and Agustina, Rayes. “The Contribution of Argentine Exports to the Economy, 1875-1929.” In The First Export Era Revisited, edited by Sandra Kuntz-Ficker, 37–72. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
League of Nations. The Network of World Trade. Geneva: League of Nations, 1942.Google Scholar
Lluch, Andrea, and Agustina, Rayes. “Empresas frigoríficas extranjeras y exportaciones argentinas de carnes, 1890-1930.” Buenos Aires: X Coloquio de Historia de Empresas, 2013.Google Scholar
Martino, Adriana, and Mary, Delgado. “La maquinaria en la agricultura. Santa Fe (1880-1890).” Buenos Aires: Separata del IV Congreso Nacional y Regional de Historia Argentina, 1977.Google Scholar
Martiren, Juan L., and Agustina, Rayes. “La industria argentina de harina de trigo en el cambio de siglo. Límites y alcances, 1880-1914.” H-industr@: Revista de historia de la industria, los servicios y las empresas en América Latina 18 (2016): 1-27.Google Scholar
Matsuyama, Kiminori. “Agricultural Productivity, Comparative Advantage, and Economic Growth.” Journal of Economic Theory 58, no. 2 (1992): 317–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarty, J. W. “The Staple Approach in Australian Economic History.” Business Archives and History 4, no. 1 (1964): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarty, J. W. “Australia as a Region of Recent Settlement in the Nineteenth Century.” Australian Economic History Review 13, no. 2 ( 1973 ): 148-67. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Méndez-Chacón, Esteban, and Diana, Van Patten. “Multinationals, Monopsony and Local Development: Evidence from the United Fruit Company.” Unpublished Manuscript, 2019.Google Scholar
Minnesota Population Center. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, International: Version 7.3 [dataset]. Minneapolis: IPUMS, 2020. https://doi.org/10.18128/d020.v7.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullahy, John. “Multivariate Fractional Regression Estimation of Econometric Share Models.” Journal of Econometric Methods 4, no. 1 (2015): 71–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
North, Douglass. “Location Theory and Regional Economic Growth.” Journal of Political Economy 63, no. 3 (1955): 243–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, Douglass The Economic Growth of the United States 1790-1860. New York: WW Norton, 1966.Google Scholar
Nunn, Nathan. Slavery, Inequality, and Economic Development in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Nunn, Nathan, and Diego, Puga. “Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa.” Review of Economics and Statistics 94, no. 1 (2012): 20–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy, Qian. “The Potato’s Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from a Historical Experiment.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 126, no. 2 (2011): 593–650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nurkse, Ragnar. “International Investment To-Day in the Light of Nineteenth-Century Experience.” Economic Journal 64, no. 256 (1954): 744–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oddone, Jacinto. La burguesía terrateniente argentina. Buenos Aires: Editiones Populares Argentinas, 1936.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Ricardo M. Historia económica de la Argentina. San Francisco, CA: Plus Ultra, 1978.Google Scholar
Oto-Peralías, Daniel. “Frontiers, Warfare and Economic Geography: The Case of Spain.” Journal of Development Economics 146 (2020):CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palacio, Juan M. “La estancia mixta y el arrendamiento agrícola: Algunas hipótesis sobre su evolución histórica en la región pampeana, 1880-1945.” Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana Dr. Emilio Ravignani 25 (2002): 37–87.Google Scholar
Pérez, Santiago. “Railroads and the Rural to Urban Transition: Evidence from 19th-Century Argentina.” Technical Report, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2018.Google Scholar
Ramalho, Esmeralda A., Ramalho, Joaquim J. S., and Murteira, José M.R.. “Alternative Estimating and Testing Empirical Strategies for Fractional Regression Models.” Journal of Economic Surveys 25, no. 1 (2011): 19–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramankutty, Navin, Jonathan A, Foley, John, Norman, and Kevin, McSweeney. “The Global Distribution of Cultivable Lands: Current Patterns and Sensitivity to Possible Climate Change.” Global Ecology and Biogeography 11, no. 5 (2002): 377-92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramcharan, Rodney. “Inequality and Redistribution: Evidence from US Counties and States, 1890-1930.” Review of Economics and Statistics 92, no. 4 (2010): 729–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randle, Patricio H. Atlas del desarrollo territorial de la Argentina Memoria. Buenos Aires: Oikos, 1981.Google Scholar
Rayes, Agustina. “La estadística de las exportaciones argentinas, 1875-1913. Nuevas evidencias e inter-pretaciones.” Investigaciones de Historia Economica-Economic History Research 11, no. 1 (2015): 31–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regalsky, Andrés, and Aníbal, Jáuregui. “Comercio exterior, mercado interno e industrialización: El desarrollo de la industria láctea argentina entre las dos guerras mundiales. actores y problemas.” Desarrollo Económico: Revista de Ciencias Sociales (2012): 493-527.Google Scholar
Rocchi, Fernando. Chimneys in the Desert: Industrialization in Argentina during the Export Boom Years, 1870-1930. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Molas, Ricardo, E. Historia social del gaucho. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina, 1982. Google Scholar
Schedvin, C. B. “Staples and Regions of Pax Britannica.” Economic History Review XLIII, no. 4 (1990): 533–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scobie, James R. Revolution on the Pampas: A Social History of Argentine Wheat, 1860-1910, vol. 1. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Sesto, Carmen. Historia del capitalismo agrario pampeano. La vanguardia ganadera bonaerense, 1856-1900. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores, 2005.Google Scholar
Slatta, Richard W. Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Slutzky, Daniel. “Aspectos sociales del desarrollo rural en la pampa húmeda argentina.” Desarrollo económico ( 1968 ): 95-135. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokoloff, Kenneth L., and David Dollar. “Agricultural Seasonably and the Organization of Manufacturing in Early Industrial Economies: The Contrast Between England and the United States.” Journal of Economic History 57, no. 2 (1997): 288–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solberg, Carl E. The Prairies and the Pampas: Agrarian Policy in Canada and Argentina, 1880-1930. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987. Google Scholar
Somoza, Jorge, and Alfredo, Lattes. “Muestras de los dos primeros censos nacionales de población, 1869 y 1895.” Instituto Torcuato Di Telia, Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, Documento de Trabajo 46, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1967.Google Scholar
Talhelm, Thomas, Xu, , Dong Zhang, Shinya, Oishi, C., Shimin, Dongsheng, Duan, Xiaoli, Lan, and Shinobu, Kitayama. “Large-Scale Psychological Differences within China Explained by Rice versus Wheat Agriculture.” Science 344, no. 6184 (2014): 603-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Alan M. “The Argentina Paradox: Microexplanations and Macropuzzles.” Latin American Economic Review 27, no. 1 (2018): https://doi.org/10.1007/s40503-017-0051-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tornquist, Ernesto. The Economic Development of the Argentine Republic in the Last Fifty Years. Buenos Aires: Ernesto Tornquist & Company, 1919.Google Scholar
Vollrath, Dietrich. “The Agricultural Basis of Comparative Development.” Journal of Economic Growth 16, no. 4 (2011): 343–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vollrath, Dietrich “Inequality and School Funding in the Rural United States, 1890.” Explorations in Economic History 50, no. 2 (2013): 267-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, Melville H . “A Staple Theory of Economic Growth.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique 29, no. 2 ( 1963 ): 141-58. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, Melville H . “Wheat as a Staple.” The Prairies and the Pampas: A Review Colloquium on The Prairies and the Pampas: Agrarian Policy in Canada and Argentina, 18801930, by Carl E. Solberg, 67 (Summer 1993 ): 279-99. Google Scholar
Williamson, Jeffrey G. “Greasing the Wheels of Sputtering Export Engines: Midwestern Grains and American Growth.” Explorations in Economic History 17, no. 3 (1980): 189–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winn, Peter. “British Informal Empire in Uruguay in the Nineteenth Century.” Past & Present 73 (1976): 100–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wooldridge, Jeffrey M. Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Droller and Fiszbein supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Droller and Fiszbein supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 508.8 KB