Lots of shit…
Well, more precisely, dog faeces.
It’s funny what your brain chooses to remember.
Pastries, fizzy drinks for breakfast, sweets, architecture, Boca Juniors — and yes, dog shit all over the ground.
Being served sweets in Buenos Aires, 2014. Source: Author
Landing in Argentina, I braced for the hardship I’d been warned about. And yes, sure, I saw it. Poverty, unrest, the grit of daily struggle.
But that wasn’t the whole picture.
Argentina, for all its flaws, has a special place in my family’s heart.
We fell in love with its pulse, the warm people, the music and dancing, the architecture, and the fierce traditions.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit; my mum a handful of times; and my sister even lived there for a year after high school.
I still distinctly remember my mother dancing to tango music in a bar. Perfectly normal in Buenos Aires. Slightly scarring for a boy raised in an under-expressive country.
I was in Argentina as part of a trip heading north towards Rio De Janeiro, where I watched some of the Football World Cup that year — an experience I will never forget.
So the mention of Argentina truly brings warm feelings to myself and my family. But literally and figuratively, they have their shit.
Today, poverty still grips 38.1% of the population (11.3 million people), with 2.5 million in severe poverty. Inflation peaked near 300% per annum in 2023 and has only recently come down to 70%.
This isn’t a new affliction, Argentina’s history is marked by insurrections, corruption, poor resource allocation, and repeated monetary blunders.
The 20th century saw seven coups d’état: in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1976, and 1981.
Once the world’s seventh-richest country in 1908, by the early 2000s, Argentina had slipped below 45th in GDP per capita.
Its golden age (1908–1929) rode booming beef and grain exports to Europe and was energised by a blossoming oil and gas industry. FDI, immigration, and natural resource wealth all fuelled growth in education, innovation, and capital.
But then the Great Depression shattered demand, drained income, and soured public opinion on globalisation and foreign capital.
In 1930, another coup marked the start of decades of instability, isolationist policies, and economic protectionism.
In particular, Argentina’s inflation has been a persistent struggle for the country. CPI inflation across the past decade is shown below:
Source: Trading Economics
In 1943, following the ‘infamous decade’ of fraudulent elections and military-backed conservative rule, another coup brought a young Juan Perón to power as secretary of labour. He then became president in 1946, serving until 1955 before exile.
But returning in 1973, he won with 60% of the vote.
Alongside Juan, his first wife Eva Perón was an influential first lady until her death in 1952. And in his second term, his third wife, Isabel, served as vice president and succeeded him as president in 1974.
Juan & Eva Perón after Juan’s election win, 1946. Source: Global Politics & History
The Peróns remain Argentina’s most influential political figures. Their philosophy, Peronism, blends union support, large levels of social welfare, and other left-wing policies with authoritarianism and economic nationalism.
Peronism didn’t create Argentina’s inflation problem but deepened it. In the 1940s–1950s, Perón’s wage hikes, public spending, and heavy intervention embedded inflation.
Under Isabel in the 1970s, price freezes, wage controls, and rent caps worsened shortages and black markets. A 1975 devaluation sent inflation above 300% per annum.
Inflation briefly eased in the 1990s due to some temporary fiscal discipline but roared back in the 21st century, hitting 211% in 2023.
The pattern in Argentina is clear: governments overspend without raising revenue, fuelling price rises.
As inflation climbs, black markets flourish in stable foreign currencies like the USD, eroding domestic tax revenue. The government responds by spending even more, a vicious cycle few have had the courage to break.
So why does this continue to happen?
Simply put, austerity is not ‘sexy’ politics. Everyone wants to keep consuming, and no one wants to pull the plug.
Thus, inflation in Argentina has been persistent as successive governments have ignored the basics of economics.
Until now…
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