Argentina Explained

choi

Santiago Perez and Ryan Dube, Argentina's Financial Troubles, Redux; Billions stuffed in mattresses, inflation, default risk; A country 'trapped by its own history.'  Wall Street Journal, Sept 26, 2019 (front page).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why ... s-again-11569422388

Quote:

"Lino Stefanuto, co-owner of motorbike company Beta Motor Argentina SA * * * In Argentina, companies build inventory to preserve value. * * * During good years, Mr. Stefanuto, 65, fills his northern Buenos Aires warehouse with boxes of motorcycle parts from India and China. * * * He plots for a sales collapse by having space to store bikes until a recovery.

"Under Mrs Kirchner [president 2007 – 2015] and her late husband, Néstor Kirchner [president 2003 - 2007; at 60 died in 2010 of a heart attack], who preceded her in office, public spending surged above 45% of Argentina’s economy. By 2015, the number of public employees had risen by about 60% from 2003. Today, about 26% of Argentina's workforce is in the public sector; by comparison, the US public sector employs about 14% of America's workforce. * * * The heavy Peronist spending [Is protectionist also part of Peronist policies? This I do not know] tends to be followed by a non-Peronist opponent elected to clean up the economic consequences, which usually means an unpopular austerity program. No non-Peronist president has finished a term since the 1960s.
Note:
(a) Print ends at the penultimate paragraph (starting with "To survive") of the online version.
(b) Latin-English dictionary:
* redux (adj; from Latin verb redūcere): "that returns"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/redux
(c) Argentina as"Latin America's third-biggest economy"

list of countries by GDP (nominal)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
("states with limited international recognition (such as Kosovo, the State of Palestine and Taiwan) are included in the list in cases in which they appear in the sources" Taiwan appears in all three sources (perhaps under "Taiwan, province of China") but "Taiwan" in this Wiki page)
(i) the size economy Latin America is Brazil ? Mexico > Argentina > Colombia > Chile
(ii) Taiwan (population 23 million) is below Mexico (2019 estimate: 127 million) and above Argentina (44 million).