The economy between crises: political economy and finance at the University of Buenos Aires (1870-1900)

• Published in: Tempo social : revista de sociologia da USP 2009-11, Vol.21 (2), p.87-108
• Main Authors: Mariano Ben Plotkin, Caravaca, Jimena
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Subjects: 19th century; Argentina; Classical economics; College faculty; Colleges & universities; Creative work; Curriculum development; Economic crisis; Economics; Economics education; Finance; Financial crisis; France; Ideological influences; Liberalism; Political economy; Professionalization; Teaching; Transmission of knowledge; University reform
• ISSN: 0103-2070; 1809-4554
• DOI: 10.1590/S0103-20702009000200005

This article analyzes the inaugural period of teaching economics in Argentina, examining material linked to the chairs of political economy and finance created around the time of the institution of the legal career at the University of Buenos Aires. The time period under study is defined by the economic crises of 1873-1875 and 1890, since these critical phases are generally held to be responsible for creating the demand for specialized knowledge, which in turn contributed to the institutionalization and legitimization of these specialities. Analyzing the type of economics taught at the Faculty leads into a study of how works produced in other national contexts were absorbed and deployed in Argentina as legitimizing points of reference. The text argues that although economic liberalism was widely accepted as a model in Argentina at the end of the 19th century, the reception of the period's canonical works - especially those produced by the French liberal school - was a creative process that served to validate opinions frequently very different from those maintained by the French authors themselves.