What Happened to Argentina?

Publication Date: January 2002

Publisher: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Author(s): Mark Weisbrot; Dean Baker

Research Area: Economics

Keywords: National debt; Interest rate; Exchange rate

Type: Report

Coverage: Argentina

Abstract:

This paper explores policy failures that played a role in Argentina's economic collapse in December 2001. It notes that Argentina's primary spending as a share of GDP was about constant from 1994, when it was a "model" for the IMF, to 2001 when it faced bankruptcy. Argentina's crisis stemmed from a series of external shocks, beginning with the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's decision to raise interest rates in February 1994.