Government, business and regulation. The experience of the wine market regulators of Mendoza (Argentina), 1914-1943

Abstract

Economic regulation of Mendoza wine market, since the beginning of the twentieth century, was an important issue for local political leaders and entrepreneurs. The academic literature, particularly that associated with market regulators, is extremely poor. The authors have shown some consensus on the need for state intervention to protect small and medium-sized vintners and winemakers from the major industrial firms and commercial intermediaries. At the same time, they have warned about the failures of regulatory policies, such as distortions in costs and prices of wine to consumers, the promotion of an inefficient industry and «the regulatory capture», but they have not valued the magnitude of the intervention and its impact on wine industry. The article analyzes the wine market regulators, public and private, which functioned between 1914 and 1943, focusing on transactions in the grape and wine markets.