More Good Results from Argentina

The most important election of 2023 took place in Argentina, where that nation’s voters elected the libertarian candidate, Javier Milei, as their new president. I discussed the outlook for Milei’s agenda on a recent appearance of the Schilling Show. Here’s a brief excerpt. As you can see, I’m worried that Milei faces enormous obstacles. Argentina […]

More Good Results from Argentina

How credible is the Milei plan?

Here is a good Substack essay by Nicolas Cachanosky, excerpt: Inflation expectations depend on what is expected to happen to the budget in the months to come. It is natural, then, to ask whether the observed surpluses are sustainable in the months ahead. Answering this question requires looking at two things. First, how was the fiscal […]

How credible is the Milei plan?

Will Milei succeed in Argentina?

I give him a 30-40% chance, which is perhaps generous because I am rooting for him.  Bryan Caplan, who is more optimistic, offers some analysis and estimates that Milei needs to close a fiscal gap of about five percent of gdp. I have two major worries.  First, if Milei approaches fiscal success, the opposing parties […]

Will Milei succeed in Argentina?

Milei Speaks Truth to WEF Elite Power

Argentina’s President Javier Milei had a warning for those attending the annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland; ‘the Western world is in danger’ from ‘collectivist experiments’ such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and has called on the world to reject socialism and instead embrace “free enterprise capitalism” to end global poverty. H/T zerohedge “Today, […]

Milei Speaks Truth to WEF Elite Power

The Worst Journalism of 2023

Writing about the economic tragedy of Argentina, I’ve explained that one major problem is inflation, thanks to that country’s version of “modern monetary theory.” This is not a trivial problem. Here’s a chart, from a recent report by Reuters, showing how prices have been rising for nearly 10 years and skyrocketing for the past three […]

The Worst Journalism of 2023

Argentina Milei reform impressions

I didn’t have much time in Argentina, but I can pass along a few impressions about how Milei is doing, noting I hold these with “weak belief”: 1. He is pretty popular with the general population.  He is also popular in B.A. in particular.  People are fed up with what they have been experiencing.  It […]

Argentina Milei reform impressions

Afuera!

Unlike a lot of other people I didn’t get too excited about the election of Javier Milei to the presidency of Argentina, anarcho-capitalism and all. I’ve just been to disappointed by too many “Right-Wing” politicians over the decades, especially the ones who talked about cutting spending and more than that, shrinking the size of the State. […]

Afuera!

An Upside-Down Economic History of Argentina

Argentina has a very interesting, but also rather tragic, economic history. During first half of the 20th century, it was one of the world’s richest nations. But thanks to dirigiste economic policies (known locally as Peronism) starting after World War II, Argentina has suffered a dramatic decline in relative living standards. However, something shocking has […]

An Upside-Down Economic History of Argentina

Can Argentina Be Rescued, Part III

My trip to Argentina last year motivated me to write Part I of this series, which focused on whether things might get better in that tragic country for the simple reason that they couldn’t possibly get any worse. In Part II of this series, I analyzed whether a libertarian candidate’s surprisingly strong performance in Argentina’s […]

Can Argentina Be Rescued, Part III

Argentina projection of the day

Milei’s November election win — on a pledge to rapidly overhaul Argentina’s dysfunctional economy — has triggered a burst of market exuberance. The local Merval stock index is up 28 per cent, while prices for Argentina’s closely watched sovereign bonds maturing in 2030 — some of the most liquid — have risen 22 per cent…

Argentina projection of the day

Why Argentina’s dollarization is likely to come in sudden, messy ways

Yes, I do still favor it, but here is part of the problem, as I explain in my latest Bloomberg column: The simplest way for Argentina to dollarize would be to inflate the peso even more. For purposes of argument, imagine a peso inflation rate of one billion percent a year. Pesos would be worthless, […]

Why Argentina’s dollarization is likely to come in sudden, messy ways

A Libertarian Landslide in Argentina

After a libertarian candidate took first place in Argentina’s presidential primary back in August, I wrote that the runoff would be the most important election of 2023 (even more important than the fortunately failed referendum to weaken TABOR in Colorado). Amazingly, Argentinian voters opted for the libertarian by a strong 56-44 margin. To understand President-Elect […]

A Libertarian Landslide in Argentina

@OwenJones84 @K_Niemietz GDP per capita has not more than doubled @chavezcandanga

image

Source: The Conference Board. 2015. The Conference Board Total Economy Database™, May 2015, http://www.conference-board.org/data/economydatabase/

On the decline of socialism in the Americas

The impact of neoliberalism on labour market freedom in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela

All was quiet on the neoliberalism front in Latin America for the last 20 years. In yet another defeat for the Mont Pelerin Society led transnational conspiracy, labour market freedom has declined in the four countries in figure 1. I’ve always had my doubts about the ability of a transnational conspiracy to be led by a society with such a crappy website.

Figure 1: Index of Economic Freedom, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela, 95 – 2015

image

Source: Index of Economic Freedom 2015.

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