The Political Economy of Economic Reforms in Argentina

In 1989, Argentina entered a process of sweeping transformation of its economic institutions which provided for the (temporary) recovery of economic growth and the taming of inflation. The Argentine experience with market-oriented reforms has been regarded by the literature as a salient case of radical and 'unconstrained' reform. Yet, a closer scrutiny portrays that the building and maintenance of a pro-"reform coalition determined the pace, depth and characteristics of the 'new economic institutions'. The idiosyncrasies of Argentina's political institutions, in turn, conditioned this coalition-building strategy. The same idiosyncrasies were at play in the 2001/2002 collapse of the convertibility regime and ensuing social and political chaos.