Soon before the election that made Javier Milei president, 108 economists around the world (including prominent names like Thomas Piketty, Gabriel Zucman, and Jose Ocampo) signed an open letter warning about the dangers of “non-traditional” economic thinking. Even at the time, the letter was cluttered with flawed thinking.
The letter then bemoans that “the laissez-faire model assumes that markets work perfectly if the government does not intervene.” While there is some truth to the statement, the letter completely ignores the fact that most of Argentina’s problems over the past decades came about from government failure and over-intervention in the market. Later on they say that “Argentines are too familiar with the pain of laissez-faire economics”, as if Argentina has been this beacon of freedom beforehand. According to the Economic Freedom of the World index, Argentina has been in the bottom two quartiles of countries in its “laissez-faire economic polices” since 2005 and ranked 130th or lower every year since 2010.
So how has Argentina done with these “dangerous” policies of Milei? Pretty strikingly well, actually. Noah Smith, who is no free-market zealot, wrote what can essentially be called an apology to free-market supporters for Milei’s recent successes. The outcomes have been stunning, and even faster than I personally expected.
Continue reading at EconLib.
Justin Callais, PhD, is Chief Economist at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's "Social Mobility in the 50 States" project and conducts original research on economic development, upward mobility, and economic freedom. Dr. Callais received his Ph.D. in economics from Texas Tech University and his B.B.A. in economics from Loyola University New Orleans. He serves as an economic consultant at Callais Capital Management, and he is co-editor of Profectus Magazine, an online publication dedicated to human progress and flourishing. In addition, he publishes a regular newsletter on Substack titled "Debunking Degrowth."
Economics of Flourishing
Soon before the election that made Javier Milei president, 108 economists around the world (including prominent names like Thomas Piketty, Gabriel Zucman, and Jose Ocampo) signed an open letter warning about the dangers of “non-traditional” economic thinking. Even at the time, the letter was cluttered with flawed thinking.
The letter then bemoans that “the laissez-faire model assumes that markets work perfectly if the government does not intervene.” While there is some truth to the statement, the letter completely ignores the fact that most of Argentina’s problems over the past decades came about from government failure and over-intervention in the market. Later on they say that “Argentines are too familiar with the pain of laissez-faire economics”, as if Argentina has been this beacon of freedom beforehand. According to the Economic Freedom of the World index, Argentina has been in the bottom two quartiles of countries in its “laissez-faire economic polices” since 2005 and ranked 130th or lower every year since 2010.
So how has Argentina done with these “dangerous” policies of Milei? Pretty strikingly well, actually. Noah Smith, who is no free-market zealot, wrote what can essentially be called an apology to free-market supporters for Milei’s recent successes. The outcomes have been stunning, and even faster than I personally expected.
Continue reading at EconLib.
Justin T. Callais
Justin Callais, PhD, is Chief Economist at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's "Social Mobility in the 50 States" project and conducts original research on economic development, upward mobility, and economic freedom. Dr. Callais received his Ph.D. in economics from Texas Tech University and his B.B.A. in economics from Loyola University New Orleans. He serves as an economic consultant at Callais Capital Management, and he is co-editor of Profectus Magazine, an online publication dedicated to human progress and flourishing. In addition, he publishes a regular newsletter on Substack titled "Debunking Degrowth."
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