Desarrollismo, industrialización acelerada y ciclo industrial en Argentina

Abstract

The conventional interpretation of industrialization in Argentina in the period after 1930
adopts models that describe a cyclical trajectory, originated in the import substitution and the
successive external bottlenecks in the trade balance. The question from which we start in this
article is whether such a perspective is adequate to analyze the development project of Arturo
Frondizi (1958-1962), one of the moments in Argentine history in which the need to promote
heavy industrialization emerges with greater emphasis, with a view to integrating the
productive structure of the national economy. We understand that the conventional
characterization requires incorporating other explanatory elements, which allow reinterpreting
the nature of the industrial cycle at the time of constitution of heavy industry, taking into
consideration facts that provide a specific entity to said stage.
In this sense, theoretical elaborations are resumed, mainly by economists from Argentina and
Brazil, who have delved into the characteristics assumed by accelerated industrialization in
the developmental stage, and which contribute to re-elaborate certain aspects inherent to the
scope of the industrialization process of our country.