The Argentina Debt Crisis

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at the debt crisis in Argentina that helped plunge the nation into a financial crisis in 2001. The paper argues that much of the blame should be directed towards the Argentine governments' policies of the 1980s and early years of this decade. The paper also contends that the IMF (International Monetary Fund) should be criticized but stresses that both parties share the blame.

From the Paper:

"The debt crisis which wracked many developing countries in the early 1980s (and thereafter) came about because of overly-extravagant domestic policies and exorbitant government spending - at least according to a United States Department of State dispatch from 1994. In any case, the developing nations - which obviously did not have huge tax bases or swollen coffers like their confreres in the developed west - were confronted with huge budget deficits and with overvalued exchange rates. According to the US State Department, the developing world (or at least many of its constituent nations) relied on short-term, variable rate loans to get them through the fiscal crises of the period - but those policies made them susceptible to the depredations brought about rising interest rates."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Benson, Todd. "Report Looks Harshly at IMF's Role in Argentine Debt Crisis." New York Times 30 Jul. 2004: W1-W7.
• Calomiris, Charles W. "Lessons from Argentina and Brazil." CATO Journal, 23.1 (2003): 33-45.
• Calomiris, C.W. and A. Powell. "Can Emerging Market Bank Regulators Establish Credible Market Discipline? The Case of Argentina, 1992-1999." Prudential Supervision: What Works and What Doesn't? Ed. F.S. Mishkin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. 147-196.
• Locke, Christopher G., Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun Z. (1998). The origins of the international debt crisis. Comparative Studies in Society & History, 40(2): 223-246.
• Peters, Bill. "The Third World Debt Crisis: Why a Radical Approach is Essential." Round Table, 89.354(2000): 195-204.

More papers on The Argentina Debt Crisis:

• Analytical Essay # 132367 : "The Debt Crisis and the Case of Argentina"
• Analytical Essay # 5704 : "The Argentine Fiscal Crisis"
• Research Paper # 42829 : "Exchange Rate in Argentina"

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