----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 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 ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]