Riche comme un argentin: desigualdad educativa en la Argentina de la belle époque

Abstract

In this paper we attempt to show that belle époque Argentina was, persistently, a geographically unequal country in terms of human capital. Although the distribution of teachers and enrolment rates improved significantly between 1883 and 1914, the distribution of literacy rates did not improve at the same rate. We propose three explanations for this phenomenon: the role of European immigration; differences in regional economies that date back, in part, to colonial times; and, finally, the absence of a labor market that generates incentives for investment in education.