Neo-developmentalism, external restriction and export outflows in Argentina

Abstract

In recent years, neo-developmentalist approaches have once again placed the external constraint to growth at the center of economic analysis, but, unlike the classical developmentalist view, the main concern is to increase exports instead of import substitution. This article argues that most of the neo-developmentalist positions tend to omit some important features of Argentine peripheral and dependent capitalism that should be taken into account when considering an export-oriented solution such as the one proposed. Within this framework, the aim of this paper is to provide some elements of judgment about the potentialities and limitations of these exporting approaches to overcome the relative scarcity of foreign currency. To this end, the main determinants of the evolution of the balance of payments in the last decades and the role of the most concentrated sectors of capital in such performance are analyzed.