Big push or big grab? Railways, government activism, and export growth in L atin A merica, 1865–1913

Railways were one of the main engines of the L atin A merican trade boom before 1914. Railway construction often required financial support from local governments, which depended on their fiscal capacity. However, since the main government revenues were trade‐related, this generated a two‐way feedback between government revenues and railways, with a potential for multiple equilibria. The empirical tests in this article support the hypothesis of such a positive two‐way relationship. The main implication of our analysis is that the build‐up of state capacity was a necessary condition for railway expansion and also, to a large extent, for export expansion in Latin America during the first globalization.