That’s it. Plenty of countries don’t do that but it’s a matter of political will/popular support for ending inflation, not a technically difficult problem. At worst you can just adopt another country’s currency like Kosovo has the Euro or Costa Rica has the dollar.
One could point out to different ones as well, such as Nitzan and Bichler's "differential accumulation", in which, having technological/growth difficulties, the ones who benefit most from stagnation are the ones who can jack up prices the most (entities who control most of the supply, with most mark-up power). Read: inflation.
There are many other views as well, I just pointed out one which I like.
Keeping the money supply stable does not stop inflation. Inflation is ehat happens when you have a currency where a portion of it is not circulating in the economy and then suddenly becomes active and turns into demand for products and services. Even a gold standard will have inflation.
Nope, the government loves inflation, as it reduces its debts and they can print all the money they want to pay for that. Politicians live in a different world than the average person, inflation is not an issue for them.
In the long run, if a government devalues its currency too much, investors lose trust, and the country cannot borrow money in its currency. Not necessarily a problem for current politicians since they will be out of office by the time the trust is lost.
Another Argentinian here :)
Yes, the current and past governments took different actions to reduce inflation. But, they weren't successful.
It's a complex topic. I'm not an economist, but from my limited knowledge:
- People don't trust ARS because they fear devaluation (like in 2001) or hyper-inflation (like in 1989). It means that many prices are tied to the ARS/USD exchange rate. When the dollar goes up, merchants that depend on imported goods raise prices to cover their stock in the future. (and it generates a domino effect)
- The food production chain is not so dependent on imported goods, but it's one of the main products for export. When international prices go up, domestic prices rise as well.
- Printing money is also a way to finance your economy when you have tons of debt (Ray Dalio has some easy-to-understand videos about it): Argentina has tons of debt.
The current government did a lot of price control of certain products (mainly food and services). But, it's not working. I guess they cannot avoid printing money without causing other issues.
Unfortunately, this seems to me like a populist/demagogic measure. We have tried it (a lot) in Brazil, and whilst it made some people seem better off (such as richer regions, like the SE) whilst others lost a great deal of purchasing power, it also caused massive shortages and the rise of a black market for common goods, with pretty hefty mark-ups and waiting times.
> The food production chain is not so dependent on imported goods, but it's one of the main products for export. When international prices go up, domestic prices rise as well.
Good point! It was (and still is) a major issue here. For example, today our domestic prices for fuel (gas and ethanol) and all commodities that we export (sugar, soybeans, iron ore, etc) are very correlated to the international prices.
> Argentina has tons of debt
So did we during our inflationary years, and both private loans as well as loans for public expenditure of all spheres, which were made so as to not raise taxes, and even to pay salaries (not even to make investments). Looking back this sounds absolutely bonkers.
Today our debt is rising fast, but it's mostly internal (BRL-denominated bonds). I wonder how much more of it (and combined with what else) would kick off the inflationary process again.
I don’t know how to restore credibility on that. Secure debt doesn’t really work against a sovereign so reputation is a big part of the debt market.
Balance budget? Cut government down to size? Open up the country to investment by rule of law?
Its not difficult. Its just the ruling class has captured the levers of govt and the people dont know any better.
Sweden was able to do this. Argentina is only special insofar that the people leading it are the wrong ones to be in power
Sweden has had a brighter future since.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_financial_crisis_1990-1...
[2] p44 https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/SwedishH...
Argentines are seeking refuge in the blackmarket dollar, but that will eventually be a risk as well.