Discipline as the central objective of economic policy: an essay on the economic programme of the argentine government since 1976

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic policies adopted by the Argentine government since the coup of 1976, in the light of that administrationÝs view of the nature and causes of the preceding economic and political dislocations. It outlines the interpretation proposed by liberal ideologists which traced the origins of the problem to economic distortions that had built up over a 30-yr period, and that were considered inextricably bound up with the political strategies characteristic of Peronism. The far-reaching and highly idedological character of this interpretation, linking together the economic and the political, found davour with a military government convinced that only very profound structural changes could rescue Argentina from its mid-1970s predicament, and that viewed economic policy not so much as an end in itself, but as an integral part of a political project centred on the eradication of the Peronist legacy. Viewed in this context, although short-term economic stabilization measures were regarded as important, they were not always given the highest priority by economic managers. A more important explanation of policy choices can be derived from the long-term prescriptions given by liberal economic doctrines, even where these rested on assumptions that were far removed from the realities of Argentine economic structure. Previous policy objectives such as the promotion of industrial development, and an explicit commitment to the acceleration of economic growth have been dropped, in preference for the re-establishment of a stable economic order. Various key measures of economic policy -"openness" and financial reform- are best viewed as new ways to introduce more effective discipline into society. Nevertheless the paper recognizes that at various points lack of success in achieving short-term stabilization goals may have forced the authorities to modify secondary aspects of their policies, although without ever abandoning their underlying ideological commitments. Conflicts between short-term objectives and the logic of the overall ideological project may prove crucial in determining the eventual outcome of this far-reaching experiment