At the beginning of public enterprise in Argentina: Administración de los Ferrocarriles del Estado and Obras Sanitarias de la Nación before 1930

Abstract

In this work we examine the emergence and development until 1930 of two of the first Argentine public enterprises organised during the 20th century: Administración General de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (State Railways National Administration) and Obras Sanitarias de la Nación (Water and Drainage National Works), created in 1909 and 1912 respectively. The trajectory of both entities is examined and compared, as well as their origins during the last third of the 19th century and the process through which they managed to achieve a certain autonomous character. In this sense the investment process — connected with the cycle of the great increase in expenditure and public investment by the State— is examined in relation to the rentability achieved and the conformation, in both entities, of a staff of public servants that tended to shape a State technical burocracy, some of whose members arrived to the highest leading places afterwards.