Hostage Private Companies Under Restraint
British Railways and Transport Coordination in Argentina During the 1930s
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3260294 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Raúl García Heras (0000-0003-0756-5904, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1987 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 41-67 |
| Publication date | 1987-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022216x00017132 |
| OpenAlex | W2118021269 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
By 1930 there were £435.1 million of British capital invested in Argentina, 62.3% of which was located in railway companies whose securities duly yielded reasonable annual profits. However, the onset of the Great Depression and the successful 1930 revolution brought this state of affairs to a standstill. Moreover, both events inaugurated years of growing difficulties for the British-owned railways and the British government, for whom these public utilities gradually turned into economic hostages and a potential source of conflict in Anglo-Argentine relations. On the one hand, the railways were slowly squeezed between rising operating costs and regulated tariffs while their net receipts dwindled becausé of the crisis. Furthermore, the companies began to experience the following: growing hostility from a local public opinion who resented their foreign ownership; the adverse effects of the Argentine nationalistic economic policies; and had to find suitable new courses of action to deal with government officials who were not wholly sympathetic to their interests. On the other hand, although Whitehall could not fail to consider that to some extent the railways were the backbone of Britain's economic stronghold in the Argentine, they also had other substantial trading, financial and shipping interests at stake in this highly profitable market. Therefore, the British government began to weigh carefully the role of these public utilities in British policy towards Argentina; the real prospects of a clash with Argentina if the railways' finances deteriorated too much and the Foreign Office intervened on their behalf; and whether their aspirations should be considered on the same standing as other British concerns in the Argentine
Business · Capital (architecture) · Depression (economics) · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Economy · Government (linguistics) · Great Depression · Market economy · Political science · Private sector · State (computer science) · Finance · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,03 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 1995 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |