formation of the financial market in Uruguay (1851-1900): currency, credit and capital

This paper examines the formation of the financial market in Uruguay during the period of 1851 to 1900, emphasizing its political underpinnings. Waves of company and banking institution creation and destruction, credit mechanisms, and disputes related to monetary policies took over the country, and reveal a mutually constitutive relationship between the state and the market. Theoretical foundations draw from Polanyi's emphasis on the central bank and currency monopolization, Weberian analysis of the stock exchange, and Marxian analysis of the joint-stock company. Methodologically, I conducted bibliographical and archival research, including documentary analysis, utilizing sources from the Archivo General de la Nación and the Biblioteca Nacional de Uruguay. Findings underscore the significance of analyzing money as a fictitious commodity in understanding modernization, with a need for a more comprehensive examination of financial markets, goods, and actors. Notably, the case study reveals the subordination of the capital market to the money market, with state-centralized credit supply, albeit with structural limitations. Furthermore, the occurrence of booms and crises in stock companies suggests the existence of alternative channels of capital formation, calling for further exploration to comprehensively elucidate the commodification process in Uruguay.