State Intervention in Argentina's Export Trade between the Wars
Since the dramatic widening of the international economy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century foreign capital and enterprise have played a prominent role in the export trades of the primary producing countries. That so much initiative should have come from outside is not surprising since the timing of the entry of these countries into world markets was determined by the demands of the industrial nations rather than by their own level of commercial preparation. The establishment of foreign businesses inevitably brought mixed reactions in the host countries, stemming from the recognition that, while local capital and enterprise could not cope with the sudden commercial expansion, foreign interests were in a position to exploit that very fact. Primary producing countries, therefore, sought to impose statutory regulations on export companies designed to safeguard the producers and, more generally, to harmonize business operations with the government's conception of the national interest. In North America and the British dominions, foreign capital and enterprise, thus controlled, are credited with making a substantial contribution to economic development. In Latin America, on the other hand, it has become nationalist stock-in-trade that economic backwardness is mainly due to foreign exploitation which governments have shown themselves powerless to prevent. The case of Argentina is of particular interest since of all the countries of Latin America this republic seemed the likeliest to emulate the achievement of North America and the British dominions.