Elites estatais e industrialização: ensaio de comparação entre Brasil, Argentina e México (1920-1970)

The purpose of this article is to stress on the importance of the sociology of state elites to fully understand developmental processes. With that purpose in mind, we comparatively analyze the industrialization process in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico from 1920 to 1970. Our analysis shows that although Argentina was in a much better condition to initiate its industrialization process in the early thirties, it was overtaken by Brazil and Mexico already in the late fifties. The article suggests that this took place because Brazil and Mexico, among other things, had a state elite willing to take development seriously, whereas Argentina lacked it.

The boom and crisis of the Convertibility Plan in Argentina

This article analyses the relationship between state policies and economy in Argentina 1991-2001. In 1991 the currency board regime named 'convertibility' was implemented, within the framework of important neoliberal reforms introduced by the State. These neoliberal reforms facilitated capitalist restructuring, characterized by a leap in productivity, investment and profits. Likewise, these reforms generated imbalances which, along with the changes in the world market conditions from 1998, led to the deepest crisis in Argentina's history. The inefficiency of state neoliberal policies in managing the crisis, based on fiscal adjustment to guarantee the continuity of external financing, led to an economic depression and a financial crash, sparking a mass rebellion and the end of convertibility.