Chimneys in the Desert: Industrialization in Argentina During the Export Boom Years, 1870-1930

417 Pages·2005·1.11 MB·English

by  Fernando Rocchi

CHIMNEYS
IN THE DESERT:
Industrialization in
Argentina During
the Export Boom Years,
1870 –1930
Fernando Rocchi
Stanford University Press
chimneys in the desert
social science history
Edited by Stephen Haber and David W. Brady
Anne G. Hanley, Native Capital: Financial Institutions and Economic Development
in São Paulo, Brazil, 1850–1920
J. G. Manning and Ian Morris, The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models
Daniel Lederman, The Political Economy of Protection
William Summerhill, Order Against Progress
Samuel Kernel, James Madison: The Theory and Practice of Republican Government
Francisco Vidal Luna and Herbert S. Klein, Slavery and the Economy of
São Paulo, 1750–1850
Noel Maurer, The Power and the Money
David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins, Party, Process, and Political
Change in Congress
Jeffrey Bortz and Stephen Haber, The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930
Edward Beatty, Institutions and Investment
Jeremy Baskes, Indians, Merchants, and Markets
C H I M N E Y S
I N T H E D E S E RT
Industrialization in Argentina During
the Export Boom Years, 1870 –1930
fernando rocchi
stanford university press
Stanford, California
2006
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford
Junior University. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system
without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rocchi, Fernando, date–
Chimneys in the desert : industrialization in Argentina during the export boom years,
1870–1930 / Fernando Rocchi
p. cm.—(Social science history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8047-5012-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1.Industrialization—Argentina. I. Title. II. Series.
HC175.R567 2006
338.0982(cid:2)09(cid:2)034—dc22 2005022698
Original Printing 2006
Last figure below indicates year of this printing:
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
Typeset by G&S Typesetters, Inc. in 10.5/13 Bembo
To my parents, Adela María Heredia Vargas
and Alberto Rocchi

contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: Industrialization in an Agrarian Economy 1
1. The First Factories: The Dawn of Argentine Industry,
1870s–1890s 16
2. The Market as an Object of Desire: The Rise of Domestic
Industrial Consumption 49
3. The Victory of Big Business: Industrial Growth in the
First Decades of the Twentieth Century 86
4. Only One Argentina: The Creation of a National Market
for Manufactured Goods 125
5. Tension and Harmony in the Industrial Family: Entrepreneurs
and Workers in Argentina’s Factories 152
6. Money and Factories: The Myths and Realities of
Industrial Financing 177
7. The Empire of Pragmatism: Politics and Industry in the
Period 1880–1930 204
A Midway Industrialization: Concluding Remarks 237
Appendices 249
Notes 259
Bibliography 343
Index 385

list of figures
1.1. Growth of GDP and Industrial Output: Argentina 1875–1930 18
2.1. Real Wages, Argentina, 1884–1930 51
3.1. Bagley Sales and Costs: Argentine Exports, 1905–1926 97
4.1. Argentina, Provinces and Regions, c. 1910 134
ix