Checking in on Argentina After a Very Milei Year and a Half

Javier Milei was elected President of Argentina in November of 2023. At the time, Argentina’s economy was in the toilet, with inflation raging at 140%–you read that right. Things were so bad that voters were willing to try just about anything, so they gave an anarcho-libertarian capitalist a chance. 

When you have tried everything else…

This might become the best example of a group of academics signing on to an open letter and ending up completely, ‘devastatingly’ wrong.

Argentina struggled for decades but now it’s thriving, and the man who they said would destroy it is practically solely responsible. https://t.co/XSMYSV78oU pic.twitter.com/6ghoRR2r3W 

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) July 6, 2025

As you would expect, the “experts” were appalled and warned that Argentina would face disaster if he were elected–as if Argentina following their stellar advice had worked so well–and in the spirit of 51 intelligence officers released a letter warning voters to stick with Argentina’s swamp. 

The election of the radical rightwing economist Javier Milei as president of Argentina would probably inflict further economic “devastation” and social chaos on the South American country, a group of more than 100 leading economists has warned.

In an open letter, published ahead of Argentina’s crunch 19 November election, the economists said they understood the “deep-seated desire for economic stability” among voters, given Argentina’s frequent financial crises and recurring bouts of very high inflation.

Four in 10 citizens currently live in poverty and annual inflation is close to 140% – a crisis Milei has vowed to fix by defeating his rival, Argentina’s finance minister, Sergio Massa, and taking dramatic measures such abolishing the central bank and dollarizing the economy.

“However, while apparently simple solutions may be appealing, they are likely to cause more devastation in the real world in the short run, while severely reducing policy space in the long run,” warned the letter, whose signatories include influential economists such as France’s Thomas Piketty, India’s Jayati Ghosh, the Serbian-American Branko Milanović and Colombia’s former finance minister José Antonio Ocampo.

The letter said Milei’s proposals – while presented as “a radical departure from traditional economic thinking” – were actually “rooted in laissez-faire economics” and “fraught with risks that make them potentially very harmful for the Argentine economy and the Argentine people”.

Yes, they really said that. 40% of the country lived in poverty and inflation was raging at 140%, and they warned that trying capitalism could be a disaster because socialism was working so well. 

For God’s sake, man, give it up. Only they never will, because free markets require free people, and for “experts” nothing is worse than free people. 

This article was from 3 weeks ago. Argentina just announced an astonishing 7.6% year over year GDP growth for Q2.

Every single academic prediction about Milei’s efforts to cut government spending and restrictions has turned out wrong. https://t.co/NaYrCKFlLO

— AG (@AGHamilton29) July 6, 2025

Well, it turns out that taking a chainsaw to the government and freeing up the economy is not quite the economy-killer that the “experts” thought it would be. Or, should I say, the experts SAID they thought it would be, since it is hard to believe that anybody who can claim to be an economist actually believes that free markets impoverish people. 

Rent Controls were abolished in Argentina by Milei. Since then supply has increased 300% and rents have dropped by 40%.

The Market works if it’s allowed to. https://t.co/hLH3Eu1kCX

— Keith Redmond (@ExCllrRedmond) July 6, 2025

It’s almost like they want all the power concentrated at the top rather than an economy that works for the people. I know that sounds conspiratorial of me to say, but…

Javier Milei lowers Argentina’s monthly inflation below 2% for first time since 2020https://t.co/TeMsGqtNnX

— Curt Mills (@CurtMills) July 6, 2025

Now, not everything is perfect in Argentina–as happened in the formerly communist states in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union, shock therapy has occasionally been painful. As social services have been slashed, the system is having to adjust. 

However, it will adjust because the solution to most problems that arise is economic growth. The welfare state was already struggling before the cuts came, as prices were more than doubling every year, and the economy was stagnant with 40% unemployment. The government was out of money, and the system was collapsing. 

Argentina was on the path of becoming Venezuela or Cuba, and the “experts” seemed fine with that. Better an impoverished socialist than a thriving capitalist.