This paper measures the direct contribution of railways to economic growth before 1914 in four Latin American economies with large railway systems (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay) using growth accounting techniques. The outcomes of the analysis indicate that the growth contribution of railways in Uruguay was very low. By contrast, in Argentina and Mexico railways provided huge benefits, amounting to 20-25% of income per capita growth before 1914. Finally, in Brazil, the growth contribution of railways was even higher, although this was largely a consequence of the stagnation of the Brazilian economy. These results provide an example of a technology whose growth contribution was much higher in some peripheral economies than in the core countries where it was developed.
Basado en diversas fuentes primarias, este artículo presenta estimaciones de costo de vida y estándares de vida para Lima, Perú durante el siglo XIX. Durante esta centuria este país sufrió profundos vaivenes en la actividad económica debido a las guerras de la independencia, la guerra del Pacífico y a un auge monoexportador. Estas series delinean un importante proceso inflacionario durante la era del guano que tuvo efectos adversos en los estándares de vida de la clase popular. Mientras que los estándares de vida llegaron a su punto máximo en los mediados de la década de los 50, el PIB per cápita lo hizo dos décadas más tarde. Estos resultados sugieren que la bonanza del guano no logró mejorar el bienestar económico de la clase popular de manera sustentable. A pesar de alcanzar niveles cercanos al inglés, estos beneficios se evaporaron al fin de siglo.
This paper offers a long-term comparative study of Bolivian public finances using a new detailed database. First, it shows that Bolivian government revenues and expenditures were particularly small and volatile until the 1980s. Second, it stresses that, whereas the relative importance of social expenditure has grown constantly since the late 1930s, public revenues have always had an unbalanced structure. Finally, it confirms that budget deficits have been constant, at times reaching levels that were especially damaging for the overall economy. This suggests that the potential redistributive impact of Bolivian public finances was not necessarily (or not only) hindered by the lack of an explicit commitment towards redistributive expenses, but by an extreme vulnerability in the revenue side.
This article analyses the role of women and gender discrimination in the mortgage credit market in Peru between 1860 and 1875. Relying on a large sample of notarised loans, the article shows that women participated in the credit market as lenders and borrowers. However, their participation was lower than that of men. In addition, women received smaller loans and paid higher interest rates than men. The evidence suggests that the lower participation of women as borrowers and their smaller loans were largely a consequence of the distribution of collateral. In addition, much of the difference in interest rates resulted from the differences in loan sizes. As women received smaller loans and there were probably fixed costs involved in granting a loan, making a loan to a woman implied a higher average cost.
Editor: Cambridge University Press, con el apoyo de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Instituto Figuerola de Historia Económica
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