This collection of papers is the second in a series being coordinated by D. C. M. Platt of Oxford and Guido di Telia of Buenos Aires. The ten papers deal with Argentine economic realities of the 1880-1946 period and the policies created to cope with them. Some cover familiar ground: Argentine export policies, free trade issues, currency problems, and Argentine relations with the United States and Great Britain. The contributors are familiar too, and their international origins—North and South America and Britain—reflect the international flavor of Argentine economic development. But the contributors do probe new ground, and one in particular, Raúl Prebisch, gives new insights into a critical time in Argentine history when the nation fell from economic grace.
In their postscript and conclusions, the editors outline some basic themes expressed by the different contributors. Other themes suggest themselves as well. David Rock and Tulio Halperín emphasize the early (pre-1914) slowdown of the agricultural sector in Argentina. This can be linked to di Tella’s contribution on the end of frontier expansion and Joseph Tulchin’s analysis of the rural economy in 1914. Pushing back the beginning of Argentina’s economic demise to the early decades of the century is an important issue for specialists. Other contributions focus on important aspects of the Argentine economy often overlooked. Platt, for example, emphasizes the importance of domestic rather than foreign capital in the development of Buenos Aires.
Of major interest is the fortunate fact that this conference had as a participant an important contributor to the economic policy it was examining. In his short formal presentation and extended dialogue with the other participants, Raúl Prebisch provides unique insights into the Argentine situation in the 1930s and ’40s. His comments on the Roca-Runciman pact and the role (or lack of it) of the United States in Argentine policy formation during World War II are both fascinating and surprising. His recounting of the process of policy formation in Argentina in the 1920s and ’30s and the real restraints on it is revealing. These topics are expanded on in essays by Peter Alhedeff, Jorge Fodor, and C. A. MacDonald.
In many ways, this appears a standard collection with typical weaknesses. The topics covered are eclectic and the editors make no attempt to provide a general conclusion. However, the diversity of the entries proves refreshing and informative, and the editors’ decision to avoid “some general and inevitably simple answer” (p. 201) to the questions posed is a wise one.
