From, yes, Johnson's Russia List.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------ From: "Jerry F. Hough" <jhough at duke.edu> Subject: Stiglitz and Reform Date: Mon, 13 May 2002
Anyone interested in the Russian economic reform, but especially those in Russia in charge of economic reform, should absolutely read Joseph Stiglitz' "Argentina Shortchanged: Why the Nation That Followed the Rules Fell to Pieces" in the May 12 Washington Post, Outlook Section, p. 1.
Stiglitz was the chief economist of the World Bank who led the unsuccessful battle against the IMF policy in Russia and called it crazy. He now teaches at Columbia University and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 as a statement by the Nobel committee that they think he was right.
Stiglitz in his article lays out in detail why Argentina is now an unmitigated disaster. As his title states, it closely followed the advice of the IMF, which, as he states, virtually no other economist outside the IMF believes. The IMF considered Argentina "an A+ student" as late as 1998. It even followed the advice to cut the deficit as it entered an economic downturn, precisely the opposite that the conservative George Bush advocates when the US has a downturn. Stiglitz argues that because of the neo-liberal reforms of the 1980s and the mishandling of the financial crisis of 1997-1998 all of Latin America had one-half of the economic growth of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Anyone familiar with Russia reads the article with a sense of familiarity. Argentina was given the same advice as Russia and then Russia, like Argentina, was a victim that was blamed for following the advice.
The article should be translated and given to President Putin. Argentina also shows how a presidential system can work with bad economic performance.