Between April 26th and 27th of the current year, the First Session of the Seminar “John Fogarty. A comparative analysis between Australia and Argentina since the mid-seventies” was held at the Boardroom of the Argentine Industrial Union. It meant continuing in practice with the work started in the 70s at the Di Tella University by professors John Fogarty and Tim Duncan from the University of Melbourne, and Ezequiel Gallo, Héctor Dieguez, and Guido di Tella, among other Argentine professors.
On this occasion, the Seminar was jointly organized by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the Australian National University (ANU) and the Centre for International Economy (CEI) of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC– United Nations) and the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA).
The intense discussions held made it possible to continue updating the work done in the 70s, on the basis of several papers submitted by the participants. It could be observed prima facie that, after an almost 25-year period of strong divergences, from the mid-seventies to the first two years of this century, both countries, according to what the economic and social indicators from the last five years show, are at present evidencing a closer approach or slow convergence, obviously from a much lower starting point in the case of Argentina. The question still is whether this process will be as sustainable as was the evolution of both countries from the mid-1800s to 1930, when their societies were among the most prosperous in the world.