We are all Argentines

“WHY can’t we ever learn?” The exasperated question came from one of Latin America’s top policymakers, as he told a webinar audience that his country was about to make the same mistake it had made a dozen times before.

I was reminded of this episode by the outcome of Argentina’s presidential election. The victory of “anarcho-capitalist” Javier Milei naturally captured the headlines. But just as remarkable were the 11.5 million votes (44.3 per cent of the total) obtained by the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, the sitting economy minister who had won the election’s first round.

Under Massa’s watch, Argentina has been running a massive fiscal deficit financed entirely by printing money. The lowest available estimate for 2023 inflation puts it at 135 per cent. Public debt reached 95 per cent of the gross domestic product, and the central bank’s dollar reserves are at least US$5 billion in the red.