Introduction

If there is one aspect of the difficult years that characterized the period from 1974 to 1989, it was that Argentina experienced negative per capita growth for the first time in history. The societal impact of this negative growth was easy to understand, considering that the population had suffered ever more extreme and terrifying political experiences. It is true that during these years, the golden age of growth and the stability of the dollar standard in Western countries had ended, as discussed in the introduction of the present book; however, this was not a matter of a decline in per capita GDP but rather a deceleration. This difference caused the growth gap in Argentina begun during the postwar period to broaden, and the country's position on the international stage began to slip. The case of other Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, was different from that of Argentina. Even though those countries experienced a substantial deceleration during the 1980s, during the 1970s they maintained a respectable rhythm of growth. (Between 1973 and 1980, while per capita GDP in Argentina grew at a rate of 0.48%, in Brazil it was 4.26% and in Mexico 3.8%.)

The events of Argentina's past provide the basis of a plausible explanation for these bleak circumstances. It is important to consider these events in order to go beyond a simplistic treatment of the situation; assigning blame is rather easy because nearly everyone was guilty to some degree.