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Sources of Finance and Reputation: Merchant Finance Groups in Argentine Industrialization, 1890–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Yovanna Pineda
Yovanna Pineda*
Affiliation:
St. Michael's College, Colchester, Vermont
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Abstract

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This article examines the connections between financing, reputation, and industrial development in Argentina. It analyzes five leading merchant finance groups through a newly created data set of 1,282 directors and shareholders of fifty-nine manufacturing companies across ten sectors from 1890 to 1930. Merchant finance groups formed to pool capital for manufacturing investment in the absence of developed domestic banking institutions and equity markets. The leading five groups under study secured access to diverse sources of capital by developing personal connections and by their reputations. Although these five groups successfully adapted to an environment that lacked efficient credit markets, most manufacturers' companies were capital-starved due to the lack of industrial credit. Insufficient industrial credit resulted in dominant firms owned by a few merchant finance groups controlling the noncompetitive manufacturing sector.

Resumen

Resumen

El presente artículo analiza los vínculos entre las fuentes de financiamiento y las conexiones personales en el desarrollo industrial en Argentina. Se examinan cinco de los principales grupos financieros mercantiles a partir de una base de datos que contiene 1,282 directores y accionistas de cincuenta y nueve empresas manufactureras en diez sectores durante el período 1890–1930. Los grupos financieros mercantiles se crearon con el objetivo de reunir capital para invertir en el sector manufacturero, esto a la falta de instituciones bancarias domésticas y mercados de valores lo suficientemente desarrollados. Estos cinco grupos aseguraron su acceso a diversas fuentes de capital mediante el establecimiento de conexiones personales basadas en la reputación. A pesar de que estos cinco grupos pudieron adaptarse exitosamente a la falta de mercados crediticios eficientes, la mayoría de las compañías manufactureras padecieron escasez de capital debido a la falta de crédito industrial. Esta carencia de capital industrial contribuyó al surgimiento de un sector manufacturero no competitivo dominado por unas pocas empresas propiedad de unos pocos grupos financieros mercantiles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 3 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank William Summerhill, Naomi Lamoreaux, and José Antonio Sánchez for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also grateful to the anonymous LARR reviewers for their comments.

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