RESUMEN
Historically, Latin American economies have been characterized by their participation in the world market as sellers of raw materials. Critical literature on these economies´ specificity has taken this peculiarity as the core of the analysis. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that these raw materials are ground-rent bearing commodities. This chapter seeks to highlight the relevance of this phenomenon through the analysis of Argentina´s case. The main argument is that, given its nature, ground rent constitutes a mass of social wealth likely of being appropriated by social subjects other than landowners. On this basis, specific public policies which allow the flow of this mass of wealth towards the most concentrated capital (particularly foreign capitals) are developed in these economies. The chapter presents an estimation of the ground rent appropriated in Argentina between 1993 and 2020, both by the local landowning class and other social subjects. The analysis of these estimations sheds new light on Argentina´s economic development in recent decades, the changes in the political orientation of successive governments, and the main political conflicts that characterised each period.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Ground rent; Capital accumulation in Argentina; Taxes; Postconvertibility