Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments

This paper investigates structural change in Argentina between 1935 and 1960, a period of rapid industrialization and of relative decline of the agricultural sector. This has been the subject of a long-running debate that has exercised Argentine economists throughout the twentieth century, and remai...

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Main Authors: Debowicz, Darío, Segal, Paul
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154013
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author Debowicz, Darío
Segal, Paul
author_browse Debowicz, Darío
Segal, Paul
author_facet Debowicz, Darío
Segal, Paul
author_sort Debowicz, Darío
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This paper investigates structural change in Argentina between 1935 and 1960, a period of rapid industrialization and of relative decline of the agricultural sector. This has been the subject of a long-running debate that has exercised Argentine economists throughout the twentieth century, and remains politically salient today. It has been argued that this this relative decline of agriculture was due to the policies of import-substituting industrialization (ISI). This was also the period, however, that directly followed the closing of the land frontier, resulting in a declining land-labor ratio as the population continued to grow. We use a stylized, dynamic three-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the period to analyze the respective effects of ISI policies and the observed changes in factor endowments on the structure of the economy. We find that the declining land-labor ratio was more important than ISI in explaining relative stagnation in agriculture. ISI gave a substantial boost to manufacturing but primarily at the expense of nontraded services, rather than of agriculture.
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spelling CGSpace1540132025-11-06T05:50:22Z Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments Debowicz, Darío Segal, Paul structural adjustment computable general equilibrium models industrialization agricultural sector import substitution This paper investigates structural change in Argentina between 1935 and 1960, a period of rapid industrialization and of relative decline of the agricultural sector. This has been the subject of a long-running debate that has exercised Argentine economists throughout the twentieth century, and remains politically salient today. It has been argued that this this relative decline of agriculture was due to the policies of import-substituting industrialization (ISI). This was also the period, however, that directly followed the closing of the land frontier, resulting in a declining land-labor ratio as the population continued to grow. We use a stylized, dynamic three-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the period to analyze the respective effects of ISI policies and the observed changes in factor endowments on the structure of the economy. We find that the declining land-labor ratio was more important than ISI in explaining relative stagnation in agriculture. ISI gave a substantial boost to manufacturing but primarily at the expense of nontraded services, rather than of agriculture. 2012 2024-10-01T13:58:57Z 2024-10-01T13:58:57Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154013 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Debowicz, Dario; Segal, Paul. 2012. Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1212. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154013
spellingShingle structural adjustment
computable general equilibrium models
industrialization
agricultural sector
import substitution
Debowicz, Darío
Segal, Paul
Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title_full Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title_fullStr Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title_full_unstemmed Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title_short Structural change in Argentina, 1935–60: The role of import substitution and factor endowments
title_sort structural change in argentina 1935 60 the role of import substitution and factor endowments
topic structural adjustment
computable general equilibrium models
industrialization
agricultural sector
import substitution
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154013
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AT segalpaul structuralchangeinargentina193560theroleofimportsubstitutionandfactorendowments