The purpose of this paper is to determine trends in the wages and living standards of male agricultural labourers in Central Chile during the agrarian expansion, c. 1870-1930. We found that nominal wages increased eightfold; this is relevant because wage labour became the main rural labour regime in this period. Nominal wages rose steadily from the early 1870s until 1910, and with significant fluctuations thereafter, before plummeting with the Great Depression. Real wages also increased, but only slightly. Furthermore, during certain short periods, agricultural labourers' real wages were similar to or higher than those of low-skilled urban workers. However, the persistent gap between agricultural and non-agricultural wages was one of the causal factors of the outmigration of rural workers.

No abstract

This chapter considers the process of entrepreneurial activity to deploy financial technologies (fintech) through mandate-specific new companies in Latin America. We deal with important historical issues such as defining the term, establishing temporal and industrial activity boundaries, positioning this particular process within other organizational forms typical of the region, the role of women and other relevant issues such as the modernization of retail payments and personal lending. A central question is whether fintech start-ups have had a 'scissor' effect in the entrepreneurial process of Latin America: at the base of the pyramid (that is, reducing frictions to support overall entrepreneurial activity, increasing financial inclusion, etc.) and near the top (by creating new business leaders). As a result, this chapter provides an initial assessment of gender disparities and barriers enabling women entrepreneurs in the fintech ecosystem.

Este trabajo examina los lazos entre la Caja Nacional de Ahorros y otros bancos estatales como la Caja de Crédito Hipotecario y la Caja de Crédito Agrario entre fines del siglo XIX y la primera mitad del siglo XX. Los permanentes vínculos financieros, la cooperación operativa y el Consejo Directivo compartido entre las ‘cajas’, explican el éxito y la permanencia en el mercado de las tres firmas estatales. En adición, este trabajo evidencia la relevancia de la Caja Nacional de Ahorros en el mercado del ahorro chileno: en el año 1922 más del 50% de las personas en Santiago y más del 25% de la población del país tenía una libreta de ahorro de la ‘caja de ahorros’, es decir, prácticamente todas las familias del país tenían una cuenta de ahorro en esta institución. La amplia presencia de oficinas de la Caja Nacional de Ahorros en ciudades y localidades donde ningún banco privado tenía sucursales y su sistema de visitas en terreno le permitieron capturar a una gran cantidad de clientes, sobre todo de la clase obrera, la cual estaba dispuesta a ahorrar en el sistema financiero formal. Por último, la trayectoria de estrechas relaciones entre estas empresas es uno de los principales factores que explican por qué estas instituciones fueron fusionadas en 1953 para formar el Banco del Estado de Chile. This work examines the links among the Caja Nacional de Ahorros (National Savings Bank) and other state-owned banks such as the Caja de Crédito Hipotecario (National Mortgage Bank) and the Caja de Crédito Agrario (Agricultural Credit Bank) from the end of the nineteenth-century to the first half of the twentieth-century. The permanent financial links, the operative cooperation, and the shared Board of Directors among the “cajas” explain the success and permanence in the market of the three state-owned firms. In addition, this work shows the relevance of the Caja Nacional de Ahorros in the Chilean savings market: in 1922 more than 50 percent of the people in Santiago and more than 25 percent of the country’s population had a savings account of the ‘National Savings Bank‘ , that is, practically all the families in the country had a savings account in this institution. The wide presence of offices of the Caja Nacional de Ahorros in cities and towns where no private bank had branches and its system of field visits allowed it to capture many customers, especially the working class, who were willing to save in the formal financial system. Finally, the history of close relationships among these companies is one of the main factors that explain why these institutions were merged in 1953 to form the Banco del Estado de Chile.

Ha utilizado un cajero automático el último mes? ¿la última semana? ¿hoy?