This is a classic work. Originally published in 1971, the major reasons for reviewing it are to notify Chileanists and students of modern Latin American economies that they no longer need to consult it with an Italian dictionary in hand, and to reflect on what remains after so much time. Carmagnani made the decision, as he explains in a brief comment, not to revise the work. Eduardo Cavieres helps maintains the work’s value with an excellent introduction, placing it in the context of Chilean economic historiography.
The core of the work consists of four lengthy essays followed by 22 appendixes (anexos) and 17 graphs. The economic data that Carmagnani pulled together, from price and wage series to government revenues and trade indices, remain fundamental. The essays consist of two closely reasoned analyses of industrial formation, concentrating on a series of census information from the 1890s to 1920. The...
