Los grandes industriales de Buenos Aires: sus patrones de consumo e inversión, y su lugar en el seno de las elites económicas argentinas, 1870-1914

Abstract

Argentina’s largest manufacturers of the export-led era have received scant scholarly attention. Traditionally, industrial entrepreneur have often been regarded as far less powerful and influent than large landowners. In recent decades, however, this interpretation has been called into question by scholars that argued that the economic interests of the wealthiest Argentine capitalists encompassed both rural and urban interests. The evidence produced in this article suggests that both interpretations require revision. Sucesiones (probate records), a very reliable source of information, are used to analyse the patterns of investment, the size of the fortunes and the patterns of consumption of some of the largest industrialistas of the 1870-1914 period. Contrasting views on the economic and social position of the industrial entrepreneurs of the export-led period are reconsidered under the light shed by the findings based on sucesiones.