Stabilization and its discontents: Argentina's economic restructuring in the 1990s

This paper assesses the Argentine stabilization and market reform strategies since 1989. We argue that Argentina may be penned in by its own success: exchange rate targeting quelled inflation but the resulting real appreciation has limited export and employment growth: microeconomic reforms raised efficiency but have threatened income distribution and hence political stability; exclusive styles of policy-making helped enact reform but have led to corruption and policy insensitivity and contributed to rising social discontent. We close by suggesting how a "second generation" of reforms could tackle these issues and spread the proceeds of reform to a wider segment of the Argentine public. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.