May 11, 2010
The NYT had a question and answer session to inform readers about the issues surrounding the Greek crisis. Unfortunately, the experts didn’t get things quite right. Carmen Reinhart, an economic historian at the University of Maryland, told readers that: “Argentina’s economy contracted 20 percent in 2001 after its default, as it was shut out of international markets for a time.”
Actually, Argentina defaulted at the end of 2001. According to the IMF, it’s economy then contracted 10.9 percent in 2002. It then turned around and grew at an average rate of almost 9.0 percent in the next five years. No one has such an optimistic set of projections for the Greek economy right now.
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