Comercio y crédito agrario. Un estudio de caso sobre las prácticas y lógicas crediticias de comerciantes de campaña a comienzos del siglo XX en La Pampa

Abstract

The agrarian expansion was the motor of the economic growth of Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century. In this process, like in other contexts, the country general stores, called in Argentina “almacenes de ramos generales”, played an important role, channeling part of the production toward the port and providing inputs, machinery, capital but also clothes and dry canned food for rural producers until the major yearly crops were harvested. The study about the role and modus operandi of rural merchants in the first decades of the XX century is the main topic of this article. The area of study is one of the margins of the pampeana region (the National Territory of La Pampa). In particular, the article deals with the different credit mechanisms –direct and indirect ones– and the practices and logics of the rural merchants in their role of financial intermediaries. Particularly, the discussion is focused on the interest rates and the credit rationing policies in markets with imperfect information. Besides the use of primary sources, such as company and business records of rural merchants, steps towards a proper historical consideration were made following new theoretical understanding of credit markets and financial intermediation in rural areas.