It is not surprising that no Argentine has won the Nobel Prize in Economics. But in 1947, Bernardo Houssay won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the role of the pituitary gland in regulating blood sugar, which made the treatment of diabetes possible. He was the first Latin American to win a Nobel Prize in science. In 1970, Luis Federico Leloir received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the biochemical processes that convert sugar into energy. This finding allowed us to understand carbohydrate metabolism. In 1984, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to César Milstein and Georges Köhler, who developed the technology of monoclonal antibodies, which is crucial for the treatment of many types of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Why write about it in the business supplement? Because prosperity, growth, economic development and well-being are not just about finance, gold, the exchange rate or bonds, but about a much broader and less visible dimension of human activity.. Because “the resources” that Argentina has are not limited to soybeans, oil, gas, meat, lithium, wheat or rare earths. Inadequate sizing of existing intangible assets leads to poor economic policy decisions and resource allocation decisions. In short: lower growth, lower prosperity, lower quality of life.
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2025 has been awarded Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for explaining economic growth driven by innovation.” The economic historian Mokyr showed that innovations follow each other In a self-generated and sustainable process, we not only need to know that something works, but also have scientific explanations for why. The latter was often missing before the Industrial Revolution, which made it difficult to develop new discoveries and inventions. Aghion and Howitt put forward the theory of sustainable growth through creative destruction. Innovation (which results from a shift in the frontiers of knowledge and the application of new technologies) is a central element in explaining economic growth.
A few years ago, Paul Romer and William Nordhaus They received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2018 for the development of endogenous growth theory. The central axis of this theory is that economic growth essentially depends on the decisions and incentives within the economy to promote education, the development of new knowledge and innovation. For both economists In order to achieve higher growth rates, investments in research and development are of central importance.
In short: competitiveness is not bought, it is created.
Let’s go back to the 20th century 1982, in his book “An evolutionary theory of economic change”Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter They presented an evolutionary vision of economic change in which innovation and science are seen as central elements. Technological innovation resulting from scientific research is a cumulative process that impacts productivity and economic growth.
This brings us to an interesting point. Does it make (economic) sense for Argentina to invest honestly and intelligently in science and technology?
In a 2021 IMF blog article titled “Why Basic Science Matters for Economic Growth,” Barrett, Hansen, Natal, and Noureldin state, “We find that scientific research is important.” basic affects more sectors, more countries and longer than research applied (R&D of commercially oriented companies). Easy technology transfer, cross-border scientific collaboration and policies to fund basic research can foster the kind of innovation needed for long-term growth. We estimate that a sustained 10% increase in a country’s basic research stock can increase productivity by 0.3%.“.
In economics, there is a concept called the production possibilities frontier. This is the maximum amount of goods and services that can be produced with a certain amount of always scarce resources. What makes the expansion of this limit possible? The knowledge. An example: Because biotechnology developed drought-resistant seeds, the sown area increased.
Technology is nothing more than knowledge applied to a specific goal. Without scientific knowledge, there is no way to innovate and develop your own technologies.. If a country wants to compete internationally, it should import cutting-edge technologies. This is not a sovereignty issue. It is a trade balance problem.
According to the combined World Bank and OECD data, there is a moderate to high positive correlation between Investment in research and development (% of GDP) and average annual growth in GDP per capita. Countries that have increased their R&D spending by at least 1 percentage point of GDP Between 2000 and 2020, on average, they saw a additional growth of 1.2 percentage points per year in its GDP per capita.
In summary: The higher the investment in research and development, the greater the sustained growth in GDP per capita tends to be due to impacts on productivity, innovation and technological competitiveness.
The good news is that you don’t have to start from scratch. The bad news: Science and technology are ignored by public and private business plans. Everyone welcomes the idea of the technology-based entrepreneur. Few talk about the underlying knowledge and the thousands upon thousands of brains that, based on a hypothesis, discover something that revolutionizes a discipline, an industry, or life itself.
Due to Argentina’s long scientific tradition, there are numerous renowned institutions that were and are absolutely competitive internationally. The reason: its competitiveness does not depend on the exchange rate, but on the fact that it is made up of professionals who want to be at the forefront of knowledge.
When we talk about mining, oil and agricultural resources, it is important that we know what five outstanding institutions do as a small sample of these “intangible” wealth.
After I placed a StentLove for someone who hopes for the latest breakthrough in oncology or possession of satellite images that can be used to monitor crops may not be sufficient reasons to defend scientific research. Some consider it an expense and ignore that it is an important asset.
However, a real one Homo economicusoptimizing and rational, cannot ignore what the advances of economic discipline in the last half of the 20th century and the first half of the 21st century have shown. Investments in science and technology that are not even matched in Argentina 0.3% of GDPis the key to growth and development. Furthermore, you can achieve a lot with a little. Leloir demonstrated it.