Precios, Salarios, Peronismo y Empresa. El caso del Mercado Central de Frutos 1938-1958

Resumen

The agro-export boom of the Argentina's economy in the late nineteenth century demanded the construction of transport networks and storage agricultural and cattle products. This article describes the case of the “Mercado Central de Frutos S.A.”, the biggest storage company of the period. Strategically located near the port of Buenos Aires, it was connected with the rail and river networks. Created in 1887, this enterprise reached its maturity in the early decades of the twentieth century. By mid-century began its decline, and closed its operations in 1965. Some research works explained the decline as a consequence of the economic policies of Peronism (1943-1955). This paper analyze the enterprise performance in the period 1938-1958, from the reports and balance sheets of the company, board decisions and the evolution of wages and prices. From these sources this paper proposes that the company began its decline by changes in the Argentina economy, rather than by trade and labour policies of Peronism.