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I wish to add to Chas's comments the following:
The basic pattern is well-known to economists. The inflationary process
proceeds always in a political context with parties and interest groups who
may understand the redistributive effects of inflation and still hope to
gain wealth or status by supporting the process. One dimension of the
revolution on modern economic thought especially surrounding the public
choice school has been to emphasize this political process. In Argentina's
case the story that needs to be told would be less about a maverick central
bankers extending credit and more about a government trying to provide
social programs to stay in power.
The anti-quantity theory tradition denies that the changes in the money
supply cause the process but instead reflect longer term forces such as
trends in the balance of payments, etc. Do these arguments have any
applicability to the Argentine situation or can we agree that we have
"classic monetarist hyperinflation" once again dominating Argentina's
political history.
Has Argentina produced any interesting economists who have examined these
questions? What results?
Laurence S. Moss
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