Public finances and state construction in the province of San Luis at the end of the Rosario period (1840-1850)

Abstract

The study of the trajectory of the provincial states, between 1820 and 1880, is crucial to understand the dynamics of a period considered until recently as «transition». This article aims to rebuild the state structure of a province not worked until now: San Luis. For this, two significant variables are taken: the structure of state income and expenditure and the material construction of the state in the province. The data show an excessive dependence on San Luis funds on Buenos Aires funds and a very precarious state construction, which would make it necessary to limit, for this case and in this period, the hypothesis about the «autonomy» of these political formations.