In this paper we do a couple of things: discussing a way to measure the welfare cost of country risk, and measuring it for Argentina in the period 1875-2006. There are two conclusions: a) the welfare cost of Argentine risk has been huge: for example, in the period 1976-2006 it was around 20% of...

En este ensayo desarrollamos la idea del riesgo-país en la visión del autor, sintetizamos el pensamiento pionero de Arnold Harberger y los recientes progresos de Joshua Aizenman, hacemos un balance de las visiones del fenómeno, e ilustramos el nuevo enfoque mediante algunas aplicaciones. El...

The purpose of the essay is to investigate the proposition that a free-trade treaty with a superpower is more effective in promoting exports, investment and per capita growth than a unilateral opening to free trade. To that end we study five success stories: Chile (unilateral opening), Mexico...

The paper combines a brief review of basic monetary theory, a discussion of the critical monetary and banking experience underwent by Argentina between 1980 and 2002, an essay on the stability of velocity of circulation and a proposal for reform. Our thesis is that after a hyperinflation episode...

Este ensayo fue escrito originalmente en 1987, como un panfleto a favor del equilibrio fiscal. La situación económica argentina era entonces definitivamente distinta y peor. En esta oportunidad, he agregado un conjunto de estimaciones econométricas sobre las relaciones entre el déficit...

The paper holds that the country risk premium is the triggering factor of the business cycle in a small, financially open and highly volatile economy like that of Argentina. A rise of the premium determines a capital outflow, an aggregate demand contraction and a recession; a fall of the premium...