Official Bolivian Trade Statistics (1910-1949): Landlockness and the limits of a standard accuracy approach

This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of official Bolivian foreign trade statistics. Results show large discrepancies between Bolivian records and those of its main trade partners during the First World War. Whereas the gap decreased thereafter, it stayed particularly high in the case of exports....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Peres Cajías, José Alejandro, Carreras Marín, Anna
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/134777
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/134777
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Comerç exterior
Història econòmica
Mines d'estany
Amèrica Llatina
Bolívia
Foreign trade
Economic history
Tin mines
Latin America
Bolivia
Descripción
Sumario:This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of official Bolivian foreign trade statistics. Results show large discrepancies between Bolivian records and those of its main trade partners during the First World War. Whereas the gap decreased thereafter, it stayed particularly high in the case of exports. This seems to be explained by mistakes in the geographical assignment by the trade partners rather than by an overvaluation of official Bolivian figures. This suggests that landlockness may have had a significant negative effect on the accuracy of trade statistics from the, a priori, more reliable countries. The study also helps to revisit the debate concerning the effect that tin exploitation had on the rest of the Bolivian economy during the first half of the 20th century.