[Capítulo I: El derrumbe de la Argentina] Becoming a serious country ?
[http://www.economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2704457]
See full article from The Economist
Argentina has a big opportunity to reverse its history of decline. But it will need to draw the right lessons from the past.....
....Argentina is thus not a “developing country”. Uniquely, it achieved development and then lost it again. That is a haunting condition: it may help to explain why psychoanalysis and the nostalgia-ridden tango are so popular in Argentina. It is reflected, mockingly, in the fading Belle Epoque splendour of Buenos Aires.
What went wrong, and when? According to one school of thought the decline began in 1913, as the Pampas became fully settled: growth slowed because the country proved unable to industrialise and diversify effectively. Liberals, for their part, have traditionally blamed the governments of Juan Péron (1946-55), with their quasi-fascist pursuit of autarky and a state-run economy. Leftists have a more precise date: March 24th 1976, when the most vicious dictatorship of South America's recent history took power. In this view, shared by many of those close to Mr Kirchner, the dictatorship's economic policy prefigured Menemism, running up unsustainable debt and destroying the state's capacity to regulate the economy.
There is some truth in all three views. What made matters worse is that Britain cast Argentina adrift after the second world war, and the United States never showed much interest in sponsoring the country's development.
Yet the most powerful factor in Argentina's decline has been its unstable politics since 1930, when a (not very bloody) military junta took power, ending seven decades of civilian constitutional government. The rule of law has been repeatedly trumped by executive power ever since. That is one reason why the state has been able to expropriate private savings so often, through hyperinflation or devaluation—and why Mr Cavallo thought it necessary to set up the currency board.
It is hardly surprising that Argentines are holding perhaps $100 billion abroad. Credit from the country's banking system to the private sector equalled only 25% of GDP at its peak in the 1990s, low even by Latin American standards. As a result, Argentina's economy is hostage to the in- and outflow of capital......
Let's see!!
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Posted by Alberdi & Urquiza to Capítulo I: El derrumbe de la Argentina at 6/04/2004 06:30:00 PM
See full article from The Economist
Argentina has a big opportunity to reverse its history of decline. But it will need to draw the right lessons from the past.....
....Argentina is thus not a “developing country”. Uniquely, it achieved development and then lost it again. That is a haunting condition: it may help to explain why psychoanalysis and the nostalgia-ridden tango are so popular in Argentina. It is reflected, mockingly, in the fading Belle Epoque splendour of Buenos Aires.
What went wrong, and when? According to one school of thought the decline began in 1913, as the Pampas became fully settled: growth slowed because the country proved unable to industrialise and diversify effectively. Liberals, for their part, have traditionally blamed the governments of Juan Péron (1946-55), with their quasi-fascist pursuit of autarky and a state-run economy. Leftists have a more precise date: March 24th 1976, when the most vicious dictatorship of South America's recent history took power. In this view, shared by many of those close to Mr Kirchner, the dictatorship's economic policy prefigured Menemism, running up unsustainable debt and destroying the state's capacity to regulate the economy.
There is some truth in all three views. What made matters worse is that Britain cast Argentina adrift after the second world war, and the United States never showed much interest in sponsoring the country's development.
Yet the most powerful factor in Argentina's decline has been its unstable politics since 1930, when a (not very bloody) military junta took power, ending seven decades of civilian constitutional government. The rule of law has been repeatedly trumped by executive power ever since. That is one reason why the state has been able to expropriate private savings so often, through hyperinflation or devaluation—and why Mr Cavallo thought it necessary to set up the currency board.
It is hardly surprising that Argentines are holding perhaps $100 billion abroad. Credit from the country's banking system to the private sector equalled only 25% of GDP at its peak in the 1990s, low even by Latin American standards. As a result, Argentina's economy is hostage to the in- and outflow of capital......
Let's see!!
--
Posted by Alberdi & Urquiza to Capítulo I: El derrumbe de la Argentina at 6/04/2004 06:30:00 PM
posted by Pablo Presas at 9:31 p.m.
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