Borrowing cities: urban modernization and foreign municipal debt in Latin America, 1887–1929

Abstract This article examines the emergence of Latin American municipal bonds in international markets between 1887 and 1929, highlighting the region’s cities as important actors in global markets. Section 2 reviews the existing literature on municipal bonds. Sections 3 and 4 provide an overview of 78 bond issues and propose a periodization of municipal borrowing. Section 5 explores municipal debt as a tool of modernization through public works, waterworks, and refinancing loans. The conclusion underscores that this phenomenon was broader and more profound than previously assumed, not limited to large cities and more flexible across institutional arrangements, revealing a more complex pattern of Latin America’s integration into global finance. An appendix lists all loans, providing a new empirical basis for future research.