Prices and Living Standards during the Age of Revolutions: The Río de la Plata between 1772 and 1830.

This article examines how Buenos Aires and Montevideo, two cities along the Río de la Plata whose economies were in close contact with the Atlantic markets, experienced changes in consumer prices and the purchasing power of low-skilled urban wages during the Age of Revolutions. It presents comparative evidence on costs of living and welfare ratios elaborated from primary and secondary sources for each city. The main findings are that (a) Buenos Aires and Montevideo show comparable price fluctuations throughout the period; (b) they went through an unusually intense inflationary lapse between 1811 and 1821 spurred by the "wars of independence"; (c) the purchasing power of unskilled workers, which was higher than those of Mexico, Lima, or Bogota at the same time, and comparable to that of middle-income European cities (Allen et al. 2011), declined during the high inflation period, and (d) although purchasing power recovered thereafter, it failed to keep the initial levels in both cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artículo examina el impacto de los turbulentos acontecimientos que jalonaron la Era de la Revoluciones sobre los precios al consumo y en el poder adquisitivo de los salarios urbanos poco cualificados en Buenos Aires y Montevideo, dos ciudades del Río de la Plata cuyas economías estaban en estrecho contacto con los mercados atlánticos. Presenta datos comparativos sobre el costo de vida y las ratios de bienestar elaborados a partir de fuentes primarias y secundarias para cada ciudad. Los principales hallazgos son que (a) Buenos Aires y Montevideo experimentaron fluctuaciones de precios similares a lo largo del período, (b) atravesaron un período inflacionario inusualmente intenso entre 1813 y 1822 como resultado de las "guerras de independencia", (c) el poder adquisitivo de los trabajadores no calificados, que era superior a los de México, Lima y Bogotá en la misma época y comparable al de ciudades europeas de ingresos medios (Allen et al. 2011), disminuyó ante la presión inflacionaria, y (d) aunque el poder adquisitivo se recuperó después, no logró mantener los niveles iniciales en ambas ciudades rioplatenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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