An alternative view of the argentine crisis: structural flaws and structural adjustmet policy

Résumé 0

"This paper discusses the conventional explanation of Argentina´s crisis. It is argued that the crisis was not, as common wisdom states, the consequence of an inappropiate fiscal policy, but rather of the structural flaws in the stabilization programme intro-duced at the beginning of the 1990´s. The programme was unable to correct the persistence of large stocks of debt which, in turn, exposed the economy to external shocks and set it on a path of vicious dependence on foreign inflows. The explanation of Argentina´s fall is put into recent historical perspective, and the paper offers a detailed evolution of the government´s decisions, the ebbing political conditions as well as an exposition of the workings and failure of the so thought automatic adjustment mechanism that was the Currency Board´s alleged main trait. It does so by recalling the emerging markets´ heart breaking pace during the nineties. Last but, certainly, not least, it provides a reflection of the pending aftermath. "