Empleo, pequeñas empresas locales y estrategias de desarrollo endogeno. Experiencias en Argentina[Employment, small local firms and endogenous development strategies. Experiences in Argentina]

The ‘90s signaled a new phase in the restructuring process of the argentine economy initiated in the mid ‘70s. A broad range of deep changes in the structural conditions in which firms and institutions operate were introduced. This process have had clear impacts on the viability and/or necessary conditions for expansion of the local/regional productive systems. The starting point of this paper is the observation that many of the policy tools which are now being applied in Argentina are clearly embedded in the theoretical discussion and experiences that take place in the highly industrilzed countries. First, we survey the recent theoretical discusion on territorial and local development policies in the developed countries. We then turn to the most prominent features of the reestructuring process in the Buenos Aires province (the main socio-economic region of the country). This, in turn, will lead us to the discussion about the self-employment programs that are now being implemented in the above mentioned region and their results. Finally, we present some conclusions.