December 18, 2011
It is amazing how frequently people seem to ignore the data when they discuss the financial crisis in Argentina. In a generally solid column on financial crises and their aftermath in today’s paper, Christina Romer tells readers that it took Argentina 8 years to recover its pre-crisis level of per capita GDP following its 2001 financial crisis.
This is clearly not true, if the reference is to the 2001 crisis. According to the IMF’s data, real per capital GDP in Argentina exceeded its 2001 level in 2004. Argentina actually first sank into recession in 1998. Its per capita GDP did not exceed the 1998 level until 2006. This would be 8 years, however the reference then should not to the 2001 financial crisis, but the longer period of decline that preceded the financial crisis.
Comments