Argentina: Inflation, Income Distribution and Class Conflict

Mrs Thatcher's slow progress in freeing the economy shows how little she has learned from the failure of attempts abroad. The lesson of Argentina is that she will have to buy support for her policies by creating groups with a direct interest in her success.     

Federal budget allocation in an emergent democracy: evidence from Argentina

This paper studies the determinants of the distribution of the national budget amongst Argentinean provinces. We evaluate the relevance of the alternative theories of budget allocation using the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel technique. Our results confirm our presumption that Federal funds allocations are dominated by the Executive and the governors while the Congress plays a minor role. Unlike some findings for the US, neither the overrepresentation variables nor the congressional theories find support in our sample. Our paper fills the gap in the literature on Argentina’s fiscal federalism deficient in analysis of the decision making process of the National Budget. This paper is based on a chapter of Osvaldo Meloni’s Ph.D. thesis at the Universidad de San Andrés.     

Firms’ linkages with public research organisations in Argentina: Drivers, perceptions and behaviours

This paper analyses firms’ drivers for linking to public research organisations (PRO) (first goal) and compares perceptions and behaviours of linked vs. unlinked firms (second goal). We used an original firm database constructed from a representative survey with information for linked and unlinked firms for year 2005 in Argentina. Drivers were estimated using a Probit model, while differences in perceptions and behaviours between linked and unlinked firms were assessed with propensity score matching techniques. For our first goal we found that (i) firms’ knowledge bases were not drivers for linking to PRO and (ii) networking capabilities matter but there is a substitution effect between interacting with PRO and interacting with other economic agents in the market when firms aim at exchanging information rather than doing joint research. These findings may imply that current linkages are not exploiting properly their knowledge potential; it may be worth designing a division of labour among PRO in their functions in PRO-industry interactions. For our second goal: we found that (i) linked firms invest more in innovative activities; (ii) they are more prone to patenting; (iii) both groups of firms value similarly PRO research outputs available at arm length (i.e. without direct linking). Given the asymmetric development on appropriability tools between PRO and firms and the fact that all firms benefit from PRO research outputs, the higher predisposition of linked firms towards patenting, suggests that special attention should be placed at analysing the risks of a private appropriation of publicly created knowledge.     

A Tale of two narratives: assessing the sociological hypothesis of the appeal of the US dollar in Argentina

Quality & Quantity - A remarkable feature of the Argentinean economy is the widespread use of the US dollar as a measure of value, storage of value and in several high-end markets, as a medium...     

Privileged Accumulation Spaces and Restrictions on Development of State‐Business Relations in Argentina (1966–1989)

The aim of this work is to explain how the state‐business relation has influenced economic development in Argentina. I will make a historical and systemic analysis of the Argentinian case to illustrate how and why state‐business relations supporting privileged accumulation spaces (PAS) increased development restrictions from 1966 to 1989. During this period, successive governments shared a common view about the central role the state had to perform for industrialization, especially by supporting the growth of big domestic industrial companies. This view would only radically change in 1989, when neoliberal structural reforms were implemented. To support this hypothesis, I suggest a methodological strategy that combines several techniques and sources in order to analyze the evolution of three complex variables and their multiple relations: state economic intervention, business behavior, and performance by large corporations.