THE SOUTH AMERICAN WAY^325
Once Argentina got into high gear, in part owing to the new, imported
technologies (steam navigation, railway transport, agricultural ma
chinery, meat refrigeration), in part to growing European demand
(population growth, increased purchasing power), product and in
come increased substantially, to levels comparable to those of indus
trializing European nations. Note, however, that they were lower than
those of other frontier societies (see Table 20.1). Even in the happy cir
cumstances of Argentina, agriculture alone was not going to generate
the productivity, income, and wage gains attainable in a balanced econ
omy.^25 Farm workers, particularly hired (migrant) laborers, typically
earn a fraction of industrial wages.
Meanwhile the estancieros, rancheros, professionals, officials, and
the boutique trade that catered to them made money. As elsewhere,
clocks and watches were both sign and instrument of a modern, time-
conscious society. Swiss and American makers vied for this new market
and fashioned imposing timepieces to the Latin taste.^26 At the end of
the nineteenth century, Argentina was a most promising example of
staples success, and optimists predicted a future like (or almost like)
that of the United States. Even today, neoclassical economists gush
over this case study in the benefits of comparative advantage.
But was it optimal? This country had some very rich people, yet
"for reasons that have never been clear... has always been capital-
dependent and thereby beholding [sic] to loaner [lender] nations, in
ways that seriously compromise the country's ability to run its own af-
Table 20.1. Product per Head and Population of Selected
Frontier Countries, 1820-1989 (1985 PPE dollars)*USA Argentina Australia Canada1820 1,219 1,250
1870 2,244 1,039 3,143 1,330
1890 3,101 1,515 3,949 1,846
1913 4,846 2,370 4,553 3,515
1950 8,605 3,112 5,970 6,112
1973 14,093 4,972 10,369 11,835
1989 18,282 4,080 13,538 17,236*PPE = purchasing power equivalents.
SOURCE: Maddison, "Explaining the Economic Performance of Nations 1820-1989,"
Table 2-1.