ABSTRACT
The forecasts that a possible conflict would affect the supply of the Argentine economy seemed to come true at the end of 1939, with the outbreak of the world conflagration. The new circumstances involved a series of economic policy options that brought to the forefront the need for an industrial policy. In this scenario, the greater maturity of the controversy over industry accompanied the momentum of the sector itself, which had experienced remarkable growth and had become the most dynamic, given the country’s productive diversification and the weight that the domestic market had acquired. During the conflict, several intellectual groups attempted to discuss the “national problems,” as it was called at the time; topics such as energy—particularly the oil issue—or those related to the limits and potentialities of the industrial sector occupied a transcendental place. Many authors questioned the idea of the impossibility of promoting “artificial” industries, which was already strongly present in the second half of the 1930s and would become predominant towards the end of the world conflict. Concerns also included a technical-productive dimension, i.e., the need to train technicians and specialists, the human resources necessary to carry out the changes required for development.
