It's been frustrating to see the US coverage of Milei, Argentina's new president. The American press seems to deeply misunderstand what's going on. It seems the US reporters can only understand Argentine politics through the lens of the US, when really it's just a totally different situation. For one thing, the American press loves to call Milei a "populist", which couldn't be more incorrect. He ran against the populist left (the Peronists), ...

If you're wondering how the heck a hardline libertarian just won the Argentinian presidential election, here's some background. First, a key fact is that the government is printing money at an accelerating rate, resulting in 143% annual inflation as of the most recent count. The economy is deteriorating rapidly, the poverty rate has spiked to more than 40%, and the daily indignities of Argentina's topsy turvy monetary policy are mounting. If ...

In Argentina, your money is worth double if you skip the airport currency exchange and instead go to one of the many black market exchanges hidden throughout Buenos Aires. These illegal exchanges are called "cuevas" (the word for "cave" in Spanish), and they are a crucial part of Argentina's financial infrastructure. Argentinians are constantly exchanging their pesos (ARS) for other currencies, usually US dollars (USD), and back again because ...

Inflation hits some parts of the economy harder and faster than others. It's obvious once you say it, and yet the way pundits and academics talk about inflation glosses over this reality. As a result, most people who haven't had direct experience with high inflation have a flawed view of how it affects daily life. Popular use of the term "inflation" makes it sound like the inflation rate is a single indisputable number that you can plug into ...