Las heterogéneas trayectorias de cambio estructural en las Áreas Económicas Locales de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (1996-2019)

Abstract

The province of Buenos Aires has characteristics that make it similar to entire countries in other parts of the world and, therefore, it is also a highly heterogeneous geographical space. This paper contributes to understanding its productive heterogeneities by examining the trajectories of structural change (SC) of the province and, particularly, of the 23 local economic areas (LEAs) within it. Based on data on formal employment in the private sector for the period 1996-2019 and the four most common definitions of SC in the literature, it can be seen that, both at the national level, in the province as a whole, and in the large urban centers, the principal manifestation of positive SC is a slight increase in the weight of knowledge-intensive sectors. However, there is also an increase in productive diversity in many LEAs in the interior of the province, something that is not identifiable at the national or provincial level. The results also reveal significant heterogeneity in the trajectories of SC among LEAs that even share similar conditions (size, location or productive profile), which highlights the need to design policies tailored to the characteristics and possibilities of each territory.