ABSTRACT
Dependency and underdevelopment theories present the deterioration of the terms of trade as proof of their conceptions. They explicitly exclude a higher increase of labor productivity in the agricultural sector vis-à-vis the industrial one as a cause for this deterioration. The article measures this relative evolution for 1910-2009 based on the USA, which is the largest agricultural exporter and does not present specific obstacles to the development of agricultural labor productivity. A relative increase in the latter, which more than compensates for the decline in agricultural prices in the world market, is verified. The same absence of deterioration is confirmed by analyzing the evolution of labor productivity in the USA and Argentina for wheat, maize and soybeans. Nevertheless, obstacles to the intensive and extensive application of capital on land in Argentina become evident and turn acute when the analysis comprises the whole of the agricultural sector. The theory of unequal exchange cannot explain these obstacles given the significative presence of differential ground rent. In conclusion, as it invalidates said theories the article points towards the need to focus on the national specificity of the Argentine process of capital accumulation, which shares a common base with others prevalent in Latin America.
KEYWORDS: Terms of trade; Unequal exchange; Dependency theory; Ground rent; Capital accumulation; National forms; Labor productivity