Quico Toro at Persuasion:
When Javier Milei was sworn-in as Argentinian president a year ago, the smart money was on a spectacular train wreck. Impulsive, thin-skinned, hyper-ideological and irresistibly drawn to every culture war controversy, no matter how dumb, Milei doesn’t immediately strike you as the kind of leader that gets results. Taking over one of the world’s most notorious economic basketcases at a time of absolute fiscal disarray, Milei’s coming doom seemed all too predictable.
A year on, the naysayers have been, if not quite silenced, then given ample time to reconsider. Argentina’s economy hasn’t imploded—that was the job of the previous administration. It did go through the deep recession the president himself had almost cherished forecasting, but it’s coming out the other side with much lower inflation, and much improved prospects for growth. Yes, poverty spiked during the adjustment, as everyone knew it would. What’s remarkable is that, even so, Milei retains popularity ratings above 50%—an amazing feat in a region where incumbency and single-digit approval ratings increasingly go hand-in-hand.
More here.
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