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Fmr. World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz talks with host Jamie Rubin.
 Watch the video Dial-up | DSL or read the transcript.
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What is Argentina's lesson for other advanced capitalist democracies?
Does the Argentine crisis point to a flaw common to all advanced
capitalist democracies, or are
that country's economic troubles strictly home-grown? In this week's briefing
Pultizer-prize winning author Daniel Yergin considers the question.
The Argentine Crisis: Could It Hit Here?
By Daniel Yergin
August 8, 2002
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Since un-hitching its peso from the U.S. dollar, Argentina has suffered a spectacular economic
collapse. For market-wary Americans -- shaken by the end of the bubble and economic turbulence -- the questions arise:
| Aug. 1998 |
Argentina's worst recession in decade; unemployment hits 15 percent.
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| Dec. 2001 |
Default on $155 billion of debt -- world's largest. Pres. de la Rua resigns.
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Jan.
2002 |
Peronist Eduardo Duhalde becomes interim president. Peso decoupled from dollar.
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| April 2002 |
Banking and currency operations stop.
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| June 2002 |
Police kill two in anti-IMF/govt. demonstration.
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July
2002 |
Early elections called for March 2003.
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Could Argentina's dire economic situation ignite a new contagion that
would sweep through Latin America, destabilizing the region, and further threaten America's ill economy? And, beyond that, could something like that ever happen at home, undermining America's middle-class stability?
Argentina's problems have seemed all-the-more troubling because the country was long considered a model of market reform. But beginning in January, when Argentina changed its monetary policy, its long-overvalued currency went into a free fall. Since then, inflation has soared. Confidence in the national currency has collapsed, resulting in massive bank runs. Today, by some estimates, at least 40 percent of Argentina's once predominately middle-class population lives below the nation's poverty line. Nearly one-quarter of the working population is unemployed.
Read More 
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Inside This Episode
 In our Photo Essay you'll see that Argentines do not look a lot like North Americans.
Our Timeline reveals historical
paths as distinctive as cowboys and gauchos.
To compare
the United States and Argentina across several statistical categories, see this week's Info-Graphic.
Argentines attack banks with hammers after government curbs withdrawals.
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