Publication: El perfil económico de la élite de Buenos Aires en las décadas centrales del siglo XIX
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2006
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Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Laureano Figuerola: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales
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Abstract
Tradicionalmente se ha afirmado que los grandes terratenientes dominaron el estrato superior de la elite económica argentina en el medio siglo que sucedió a la emancipación. Según esta versión, la crisis de independencia obligó a la elite colonial a desplazar sus negocios desde el comercio hacia la actividad rural, que pronto se convirtió en la base de las principales fortunas del país. A partir de un análisis de los inventarios sucesorios de los de los mayores contribuyentese de Buenos Aires para fines de década de 1830, este trabajo sugiere que, lejos de limitarse a invertir en el sector rural, una parte importante de los grandes capitalistas de mediados del siglo XIX incursionaron en distintas esferas de actividad. El trabajo sugiere que la diversificación de activos fue resultado de los esfuerzos de los capitalistas rioplatenses para enfrentar la inestabilidad económica y política que caracterizó a esas décadas.
It has often been argued that large landowners formed the core of the Buenos Aires’ economic elite during the first half of the nineteenth century. According to this interpretation, the crisis of independence forced the colonial wealthiest capitalists to move from commerce to ranching, which soon emerged as the elite’s major source of income. The evidence produced in this article suggests that this interpretation requires revision. Analysis of sucesiones (probate records) for a sample of fifty of Buenos Aires’ largest capitalists of the central decades of the XIXth century indicates that, rather than concentrating on rural production, wealthy porteños sought to diversify their assets. This article suggests that this pattern on investment emerged as a result of businessmen’s attempts to cope with economic and political instability.
It has often been argued that large landowners formed the core of the Buenos Aires’ economic elite during the first half of the nineteenth century. According to this interpretation, the crisis of independence forced the colonial wealthiest capitalists to move from commerce to ranching, which soon emerged as the elite’s major source of income. The evidence produced in this article suggests that this interpretation requires revision. Analysis of sucesiones (probate records) for a sample of fifty of Buenos Aires’ largest capitalists of the central decades of the XIXth century indicates that, rather than concentrating on rural production, wealthy porteños sought to diversify their assets. This article suggests that this pattern on investment emerged as a result of businessmen’s attempts to cope with economic and political instability.
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Terratenientes, Buenos Aires, Argentina-Siglo XIX, Argentina-Nineteenth century, Capitalismo, Patrones de inversión, Landowners, Capitalism, Patterns of investment
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Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Año XXIV, otoño 2006, n. 2, pp. 297-332