This paper studies the impact of financial liberalization on economic growth. It contributes to this literature by using an innovative econometric methodology and a unique data set of historical series. It presents power ARCH estimates for Argentina for the period from 1896 to 2000. The main results show that the long-run effect of financial liberalization on economic growth is positive while the short-run effect is negative, albeit substantially smaller. Interestingly, we find that financial development affects growth only directly, that is, not through growth volatility.