The Paraguayan Economy Under Francia, 1814-1840
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Trade contraction and economic regression: the Paraguayan economy under Francia, 1814-1840 Pastore, Mario H. Department of Economics, Murphy Institute of Political Economy, and Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, Cornell University Latin American Studies Program, Ithaca, NY 1994 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/27353/ MPRA Paper No. 27353, posted 23 Dec 2010 07:34 UTC TRADE CONTRACTION AND ECONOMIC REGRESSION. THE AGRARIAN ECONOMY OF PARAGUAY, 1810-1840."# by Mario Pastore## Introduction I argue here that economic activity fell considerably in the first three decades of Paraguay's early national period, below levels it had attained in the late colonial period and would attain again only after mid nineteenth century. I attribute this economic depression to regional political fragmentation and the institutional regression it triggered. In the 1810s, the United Provinces of the River Plate sought to keep the former provinces of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate under a single federal government, but failed to prevent Paraguay's early secession. They then imposed trade blockades and military threats whose economic and political effects on Paraguay were profound: revenues from taxation of foreign trade fell, scale economies in the provision of defense and justice vanished, a standing Army emerged, public finance crises worsened, and mercantilist regulations were heightened. The fiscal burden and transactions costs in general increased. Proponents of federation, more representative governments, and freer trade progressively declined, while supporters of secession, political absolutism, and government #Forthcoming, Journal of Latin American Studies Vol 26, Part 3 (October 1994). An early version of this paper appeared in Leandro Prados de la Escosura and Samuel Amaral (editores) La independencia americana: sus consecuencias economicas (Madrid, 1993) :164-200.
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