TRAVERSE Issue 39 - December 2023 | Page 168

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by geopolitical division and mistrust it ’ s easy to dismiss the slide of some economies as the evolutionary cycle of finances however , Argentina is a very different story , something that was identified in the 1970s by Simon Kuznets , a Nobel prize winning economist who suggested that in the world there are four economy types : developed nations , developing nations , Japan , and Argentina . Kuznets was referring to the cycle of recession and inflation , something that still sits at around one hundred and forty percent .
Since the 1950s , Argentina ’ s economy has been in recession more than a third of the time , the second worst in the world . Many historians suggest that this came about through the leadership of former military officer , Juan Peron . Through his nationalistic and socialist views , Peron won the hearts of the Argentine people with political agendas that were directed at the ‘ lower ’ class people , nationalising services , supporting labour unions , and providing greater rights for women . Noble indeed , however within two years Peron had spent most of Argentina ’ s vast reserves and had no idea on how to recover the depleting economy highlighted by the fact that whilst wages increased productivity dropped in most areas .
A simple solution was to print more money driving inflation , the cycle had begun as prices went up , wages increased , more money was printed . In many ways a cycle that rolls on to this day including the popularity of Juan Peron .
Peronism has remained the main political ideology in the days since he fell from power and yet successive governments have refrained from the mostly fascist beliefs of that ideology that became ever more authoritarian , today Argentina has one of the strongest democracies in the whole of South America . Despite the political stability with it has come economic uncertainty through mismanagement and nationalist views .
Argentina is Latin America ’ s third largest economy behind Brazil and Mexico relying heavily on industry , mining , and agriculture , as well as tourism , yet successive socialist governments have driven inflation increasingly
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