Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, vol. 35, nº 2 (139), pp. 325-342, April-June/2015
The boom and crisis of the
Convertibility Plan in Argentina
SebASTÍAn Pedro SAlviA*
This article analyses the relationship between state policies and economy in Argentina 1991-2001. In 1991 the currency board regime named ‘convertibility’ was
implemented, within the framework of important neoliberal reforms introduced by
the State. These neoliberal reforms facilitated capitalist restructuring, characterized
by a leap in productivity, investment and proits. Likewise, these reforms generated
imbalances which, along with the changes in the world market conditions from
1998, led to the deepest crisis in Argentina’s history. The ineficiency of state neoliberal policies in managing the crisis, based on iscal adjustment to guarantee the
continuity of external inancing, led to an economic depression and a inancial crash,
sparking a mass rebellion and the end of convertibility.
Keywords: Argentina; 1991-2001; convertibility; state policies; capital accumulation; economic crisis.
JEL Classiication: N16.
INTroduCTIoN
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between economic and
politics “as discrete forms of capitalist social relations” (Holloway & Piccioto, 1978,
p. 3), starting from the case of Argentina between 1991 and 2001. The formulation
of this objective implies the assumption that the State and the market do not constitute a zero-sum game, where one expands while the other contracts (Bonnet,
2011). As a consequence, we intend to analyze the intertwining of the State and the
* Associate Professor at the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas of the universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEuBA) and researcher at the universidad Nacional de Quilmes (uNQ). E-mail: ssalvia76@gmail.com.
This article is part of a study carried out with the support of the ‘Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones
Científicas y Técnicas’ (CoNICET) with the award of a Ph.d. grant. The author is grateful to Alberto
Bonnet and Adrian Piva for their comments. Submitted: 11/december/2013; Approved: 7/July/2014.
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015
325
market, which produces a speciic mode of operation for the economy. In this case,
we refer to a period of capitalist restructuring based on neoliberal reforms promoted by the State under the convertibility regime.
In the 1990s, state neoliberal policies were decisive for the capitalist restructuring in three aspects: irstly, the competition between local and foreign companies
increased with a ixed nominal exchange rate and trade liberalization. Secondly, the
sphere of capital accumulation expanded with a policy of intensive privatization
of state-owned companies, which contributed to the increase in productivity across
the whole economy. Thirdly, greater competition in the labor market was generated by deregulation, promoting the reduction of the workforce in companies, and
tolerating the growth of non-contractual labor.
Thus the state neoliberal policies facilitated the expansion of the market and
pressured companies to rationalize. The lipside of this process was the accumulation of inancial and iscal imbalances that became obvious with the global changes in inance and trade after the crisis in South-East Asia, russia and Brazil. This
unfavorable external situation led to a prolonged crisis, which ended in inancial
bankruptcy and a severe decline on real economy. This crisis was not only economic. As state and market represent different forms of capitalist social relations,
their development is closely related. The severe deterioration of accumulation generated a similar decline in state power. This was expressed in the ineffectiveness of
the adjustment policy, the breakup of the alliance in government and loss of legitimacy among their electoral bases. This political crisis was intensiied by the dificulties with presenting this orthodox policy as being in the general interest of the
population along with the resistance of affected sectors of the working class.
The period analyzed is divided into two sub-periods: one of boom that starts in
the second quarter of 1991 and extends up until the third quarter of 1998; the other
of crisis which begins in the fourth quarter of 1998 and lasts up to the end of 2001.
STATE PoLICIES oF rESTruCTurINg ANd CAPITAL
ACCumuLATIoN uNdEr CoNvErTIBILITy
The performance of the capitalist economy in Argentina during the 1990s was
closely related to the politics of neoliberal reform developed under the presidency
of Carlos menem and the government of the ‘Partido Justicialista’ (PJ). This was
characterized by two central measures: irstly, the pegging of the Argentina peso
to the uS dollar at a one-to-one parity (ArS$1 = uS$1) introduced by the
Convertibility Law promoted by the minister of Economy domingo Cavallo and
sanctioned by the National Congress in 1991; secondly, trade liberalization involving the lowering of import tariffs and the elimination of export duties (viguera,
2000). The ixing of the nominal exchange rate generated a real currency appreciation: the real exchange rate during convertibility was 50% below the 1970-1990
average (Hopenhayn, Schvarzer & Finkelstein, 2002, pp. 7-8). Lowering tariff barriers made importing capital goods, materials and inished goods cheaper. Thus, the
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Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
ixed nominal exchange rate and trade liberalization generated a permanent pressure to increase labor productivity and to reduce production costs in order to
survive in the increased competition.
In these conditions, a series of processes developed which managed to signiicantly increase labor productivity and reduce unit labor costs. Companies increased
their utilization of technology and imported materials and also reorganized productive processes. At the same time, the government drove forward changes to the
regulation of labor relations by means of the “lexible working” laws,1 as a way to
increase work intensity and reduce the cost of labor power (marticorena, 2010),
which also contributed to the expansion of the un-registered workforce & signiicant
reductions of labor force in privatized service companies (Salvia and Frydman,
2004). The growth in the organic composition of capital (Féliz, 2012) and the concentration of manufacturing industry (manzanelli & Schorr, 2012) also contributed
to holding down real wages, in a period of strong economic growth.
The sustainability of the ixed exchange rate depended on the existence of a
constant positive low of foreign currency to Argentina that was achieved in two
ways: foreign direct investment (FdI) and external inancing. For foreign currency
income, the government’s policy of privatizing state-owned companies proved to
be fundamental. over a four year period, the government transferred most stateowned companies into the hands of private capital — both national and foreign
(Bonnet, 2008). Privatizations allowed new areas to be opened up to the capital
accumulation, where market relations were previously mediated by the state
(Bonnet & Piva, 2013), in a new form of intertwining of state and capital. Along
with this, privatization channeled FdI and reconverted privatized companies, contributing to the process of capitalist restructuring in the 1990s.2 In this sense, the
privatizations shouldn’t be understood as merely a reduction of the State and an
extension of the market, but a contribution to the accumulation of capital. In relation to inancing, the State was the principal receiver of external credit throughout
the period of convertibility, overtaking the indebtedness of the private sector. State
debt covered the iscal deicit and balanced the trade deicit, creating sustainable
conditions for accumulation.
In summary, the neoliberal State regulated the market with the ixing of the
nominal exchange rate, the inlux of foreign currency in order to sustain the exchange rate, the modiication of the conditions of foreign trade and the lexibleness
of labor power. In the expansive period of convertibility, state and market strengthened each other. Capital accumulation was rapidly increased from the reforms
1
The term “flexible working”, characteristic of neoliberal hegemony, contributes to present the
modifications to labor relations as something positive for workers.
2
According to Adespa, the association of the main privatized public-service companies, this companies
invested more than uS$ 19,000 million in sectors of electricity, gas, water, railways and
telecommunications; the private operation of public services generated an annual increase in productivity
of between 4%-7.9%, and a rate of increase in the scale of production of between 2.2%-9%, between
1993 and 2000 (Salvia, 2012, pp. 131-32).
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
327
implemented by the state, while state power was reinforced by the development of
capitalist accumulation.
I would like to point out that this relationship between state and market is not
functionally guaranteed. during the 1980s, the government promoted limited and
weak neoliberal reforms, which failed because of the strength that the trade unions
still had, and the persistent of Keynesian welfare state (Piva, 2013). This failure
contributed to the stagnation of the economy and ended in the hyperinlationary
crisis of 1989, which led to the resignation of the government. According to Bonnet
(2008) the hyperinlationary crisis of 1989 enabled the overcoming of the blockade
of capitalist restructuring in the 1980s and made the consensus around neoliberal
reforms possible.
The expansive phase of convertibility
So far, we have looked at the importance that state policy had to the capitalist
economy’s performance during the period that began with the sanctioning of the
Convertibility Law in 1991. Let’s see what happens with the development of capital accumulation, and its relationship with the world market.
Convertibility made an intensive process of capital investment possible. From
1993 to 1998, private investment reached more than uSd 283,000 million. The
proportion of investment in productive machinery out of the total in that period
was 41.2% (data from INdEC). The intensive investment process was facilitated
by the reduction of import costs, in such a way that imported machinery exceeded
35.7% of the total in 1993 and 53% in 1998 (data from INdEC). As a result, the
stock of capital measured at constant prices (minus residential construction) increased by 23.3% between 1991 and 1998 (data from INdEC).
manufacturing industry was the most dynamic sector in this process of productive
modernization. In 1991-1998 period this industry was the main investor in imported
capital goods, accumulating 35.4% of the total. Capital investment produced a considerable expansion of industrial production, which in 1998 reached a 45.7% increase
on 1990, the year before the establishment of convertibility, even in a context of deregulation of the economy and appreciation of the peso (data from INdEC). Capital
investment, reorganization of the productive processes and lexibleness of labor fostered
the dynamism of manufacturing industry within the capitalist restructuring.
The most important indicator of this process was the leap in labor productivity, which reversed the stagnation of previous decades (Katz & Stumpo, 2001).
Between 1991 and 1998, industrial productivity per worker increased 58.5% (data from CEP). The magnitude of the increase meant a narrowing of the productivity gap in international terms; productivity increased more quickly in Argentina
than in the world market.3 As an indicator of this, we can see the lower increase in
industrial productivity per worker in the united States which reached 34% over
3
The importance of this gap has been pointed out by Iñigo Carrera (2006) and Piva (2013).
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Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
the period 1991-1998 (Iñigo Carrera, 2007, p. 242). Alongside the signiicant rise
in productivity, real salary costs fell 8.3% between 1993 and 1998. Thus, adjusting
for productivity, this indicator shows a reduction in real salary costs of 21.1% over
the same period (data from CEP).4 Figure 1 shows the development of industrial
productivity per worker and real salary costs adjusted for productivity.
Figure 1: Manufacturing productivity per worker, 1991-2001, and real manufacturing
salary costs adjusted for productivity, 1993-2001, in Argentina (1993 = 100)
140
136.1
130.8
127.3
128.4
128.8
116.2
120
107.5
106
100
100
93.8
98
92.1
82.5
83.1
80
79.9
78.9
1997
1998
82.3
77.1
79.8
60
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Productivity
1999
2000
2001
Adjusted real salary costs
Source: Prepared by the author based on data from the Centre of Production Studies (CEP),
Ministry for Industry.
These indicators show that in these years an expansion of proits was produced.
given the scarcity of oficial statistics regarding company proits, we used data from
gross production proits (which includes income from proits, rent and interest) for
the whole private sector. Between 1993 and 1997 production proits increased by
58.2%, measured at constant prices. The magnitude of the increase was such that
it modiied income distribution; the weight of proits as a proportion of total income went from 38.2% to 52.3% between 1993 and 1997.5 By increasing the
margins of production, capital improved its competitiveness in international terms,
ensuring the continuation of inancial capital lows and of FdI which guaranteed
the conditions for accumulation. In this way, the economic policies of the State
contributed to the expansion of capital, and even the overcoming of external shocks
such as the 1995 mexican crisis (the so-called “Tequila effect”).
4
It is important to highlight that this contradicts the rhetoric from the employers associations at the
beginning of the 1990s about the salary increases that would accompany productivity increases.
5
At the same time, income distribution regressed, with a fall in remuneration for salaried work, from
37.2% in 1993 to 29.6% in 1997 (data from INdEC).
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
329
The decline of convertibility
The limits of neoliberal reforms to sustain accumulation started to become
visible with the changing world market conditions after the Asian and russian
crises of 1997-98. With this change, capitalist restructuring halted and economic
recession began. There were three determining factors in this phase of the crisis of
convertibility: the appreciation of the real exchange rate, the fall in export prices
for agricultural products, and the reduction in international inancing.
The multilateral exchange rate in the period 1999-2001 was 15% less than the
average measured from the beginning of convertibility in April 1991 to december
1998 (data from BCrA). The Brazilian devaluation, Argentina’s main trading partner, was central to this process: the nominal devaluation in Brazil reached 42%
between mid-January and the end of march 1999, after an overshooting that
brought devaluation to 64% in the second half of January 1999 (Filgueiras, 2000,
pp. 189-192). In addition to this, the prices of the three main agricultural products
fell signiicantly during 1999-2001. during this period, the average prices of soya,
maize and wheat fell 31.3%, 21.8%, and 24.4% respectively, compared to the
1992-98 average. This fall would be elevated to 46.3% for soya, 45.8% for maize,
and 33.9% for wheat, if we were to compare the year 2001 with the 1996-97 average, when export prices were high (Lattuada, 2006, p. 123) given that the transference of ground rent from agricultural production to industrial capital has historically characterized the Argentinean economy, this decline in prices was decisive in
the crisis (Iñigo Carrera, 2006). Figure 2 shows the sharp fall of the real exchange
rate and of the prices of primary commodities over the 1998-2001 period.
Fi gur e 2: E x por t pr i c es of pr i m a r y pr oduc t s a nd r ea l m ul t i l a t er a l
ex c ha nge r a t e i n A r gent i na , 1991- 2001 ( 1991= 100)
160
146. 8
140
130. 8
123. 7
117. 1
120
104. 5
114. 2
108
100
99. 4
100
98. 1
95. 7
85. 9
80
77. 3
77. 2
1993
1994
82. 8
83. 5
80. 4
77. 6
70. 3
71. 4
67. 6
60
1991
1992
1995
1996
Real multilateral exchange rate
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Primary products
S our c e: P r epa r ed by t he a ut hor ba s ed on da t a f r om t he N a t i ona l I ns t i t ut e of S t a t i s t i c s
a nd C ens us ( I N D E C ) , a nd t he C ent r a l B a nk of t he R epubl i c of A rgentina ( B C RA ) .
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Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
Finally, the lows of inancial capital suffered a reverse from emerging economies towards the advanced capitalist countries (Bonnet, 2008). This meant a reduction in the inancing available to Argentina. The net income of foreign currency via
inancing fell 25.5% in 1999 and plummeted 52.8% in 2000 compared to 1998
(decreasing from nearly uSd 18,300 million to uSd 8,600 million, between 1998
and 2000). This fall was much greater in the non-inancial private sector: 47.9%
in 1998, 86.5% in 1999 and 97.1% in 2000, compared to 1997 — dropping from
10,300 to 300 million dollars, between 1997 and 2000 (data from INdEC).
The fall in export prices, the greater appreciation of the argentine peso and the
decline of external credit negatively impacted on the economy. The tendency of
proits to rise during the upswing phase reversed: the proit margins of the whole
economy contracted by 15.7% between 1997 and 2001 (data from INdEC). This
downturn had an impact on investment and productivity: between 1998 and 2001,
private investment shrank by 30.8% and industrial productivity stagnated, with a
slight decrease of 1.5% (data from CEP). In contrast, industrial productivity in the
united States grew by 10.4% over the same period, meaning the international
productivity gap began to widen once more (Iñigo Carrera, 2007, p. 242). All this
had an impact on economic activity: gross domestic Product (gdP) fell 13.1%
between the last quarter of 1998 and the last quarter of 2001 (data from INdEC).
Figure 3 shows the development of proit and private investment 1993-2001.
Figure 3: Private sector profits at 1993 prices (1993=100) and gross domestic
private investment in pesos at 1993 value in Argentina, 1993-2001
180
70000
144.1
145.3
Percentage
65000
155.7
60000
141
140
133.3
126.7
56090
122
52555
120
100
100
50000
48454
46746
41064
55000
45000
46397
45346
40000
40767
38812
80
35000
60
Millions of pesos (1993 value)
158.2
160
30000
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
Right axis: private investment
1999
2000
2001
Left axis: profits
Source: Prepared by the author based on data from the Ministry of Economy and the Centre of
Production Studies, Ministry for Industry.
In those sectors most affected by the crisis, a process of dismissing the labor
force unfolded. Between 1998 and 2001 manufacturing, construction and agriculture together lost more than 462,000 salaried positions, 15% of the total labor
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
331
force for those sectors (data from INdEC). In a delationary context, employers
couldn’t reduce the salary of registered workers, for which they would have needed a cutback that exceeded the fall in prices. This was due to the existing legal
obstacles to the reduction of salaries (marticorena, 2012). Therefore, the cuts to
real salaries hit unregistered workers who found themselves on the margins of legal
regulation, and whose remuneration shrank 8% between 1998 and 2001 (data
from INdEC). For the working class, the crisis generated a decline in their standard
of living, and a growth of poverty and unemployment.6
In summary, in the irst phase of convertibility, an improvement in the competitiveness of the economy was generated, understood as a growth in local productivity above the international average, and an expansion of proits. The neoliberal economic policies of the State were indispensable for the realization of these
changes. In the second phase, the decline of the exchange rate, international prices
of agricultural products and the reduction of external inancing reversed this process, generating a deterioration of competitiveness, stagnating productivity, and
falls in investment and proits (along with the worsening living conditions of the
working class), drove convertibility into crisis. In the next section, we look at the
policies which the State implemented to manage this crisis.
CrISIS oF ACCumuLATIoN ANd mANAgEmENT
PoLICIES oF THE STATE
The capacity of the State to confront the crisis was limited by the narrow room
for manoeuvre left by convertibility, given the ixed exchange rate and the imbalances produced in its expansive phase, which were aggravated by the crisis. The
neoliberal reforms generated a permanent current account deicit that reached an
average above uSd 9,300 million annually, in the period 1992-2000. These deicits
had been balanced out with a positive credit balance in the inancial account, with
credit received by the State and by private companies. In 1992-2000 the non-inancial public sector (national and provincial) had a net foreign currency income of
uSd 7,038 million as an annual average, overtaking the non-inancial private sector with an income of uSd 4,635 million annually. Thus the net income of dollars
due to state debt covered 75.5% of the current account deicit from 1992 to 2000
(data from INdEC). In this way the role of the State in the obtaining of foreign
currency was a determining factor in the stabilizing of the balance of payments
(BoP). This situation created a growing weight of debt, as the State could not service the debt with resources obtained from the economy, given the persistent iscal
deicit, more than ArS 6,700 million annually in 1993-2000 (oNP, 2005). So the
stock of publically consolidated debt exceeded uSd 150,000 million in 2001,
6
Between october 1998 and october 2001, the population living in poverty went from 25.9% to 35.4%
of total population. People unemployed grew by 47.6% over the same period (data from INdEC).
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Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
equivalent to 56% of gdP (Español & Herrera, 2011, p. 77), an important increase,
considering that in 1994 the debt was about uSd 74,600 million, equivalent to
29% of gdP (data from mEP).
In this manner the growing inancial needs of the State became the sword of
damocles of convertibility. Payment of public debt and the iscal deicit made a
permanent increase of foreign credit necessary (Iñigo Carrera, 2006) in a context
of the declining afluence of inancial capital in Latin America, which also affected
Argentina (BId, 2004; Bonnet, 2008). This contradiction between pressing inancial
needs and a reduction of available funds put the continuation of foreign currency
income at risk, leading to a toughening up of multinational credit organizations
like the International monetary Fund (ImF) (Nemiña, 2012), and an increase of
interest rates. The growing economic dificulties meant that the possibility of recovering investment and overcoming the recession became more remote, generating
expectations of default and the abandoning of convertibility.
State policies sought to alleviate these expectations and at the same time reduce
the country risk rating and interest rates, driving economic activity forward. In this
way, the policies of the State attempted to overcome the crisis without modifying
the conditions in which accumulation had been fostered within the framework of
convertibility. These policies had a clear iscal bias, being oriented towards the
regulation of iscal accounts, something that was attempted in different ways by
the two governments of the period. From the end of 1998 and during 1999 the
government of the PJ adopted policies of increasing the tax burden and selling off
public assets to cover the iscal deicit, which had increased due to the crisis. Tax
reforms introduced new corporation taxes and increased pre-existed ones. Likewise,
the government took the decision to sell state-owned shares in the privatized oil
company yPF (Argentina’s largest company), which were acquired by the repsol
group. The tax reforms and the selling off of state assets enabled the iscal deicit
to be maintained within the margins agreed by the ImF, at the cost of aggravating
the economic downturn, given the recessionary character of the taxes, and eliminating an important source of future income for the State, given the fact that yPF was
the most proitable company in the country.
After the presidential elections in which the ‘Alianza’ (the main oppositional
force) triumphed, the policies of regulating inancial accounts continued, although
with some changes in modality. From the beginning of their term in government in
december 1999, the Alianza introduced successive reductions in public spending,
in particular state salaries, pensions and public investment.7 In addition, they sought
to strengthen the delationary tendencies of salaries taking place in the private sector by means of a Labor reform Law, permitting a greater lexibility of labor
7
The most significant adjustments were made in december 1999, may 2000, march 2001 and July
2001. Below we will look at the 2001 cuts. For the characteristics of each adjustment program, see Piva
(2013).
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
333
contracts, which had been a demand of employers’ associations.8 In this fashion
they looked for a way out of the crisis by transferring the cost onto the working
class (Wainer, 2010; Piva, 2013).
expectations of default, inancial bail-out and economic recession
The Labor reform law ended up leading to a political crisis, with the resignation of vice President Carlos Álvarez, after a sharp dispute with President Fernando
de la rúa about alleged payment of bribes in connection with the passing of the
law (Peralta ramos, 2007). This situation demonstrated the possibility of a rupture
in the Alianza, formed by two parties: the ‘unión Cívica radical’ (uCr) and the
‘Frente País Solidario’ (FrePaSo), to which the President and vice President belonged.
The political crisis led to a serious increase in the country risk rating,9 which
climbed to 1.000 basis points, a level not reached since January 1999 after the
Brazilian devaluation (data from Ambito Financiero). The reason for this rise lay
in doubts about the sustainability of adjustment policies and convertibility. As a
consequence, the government had to ratify a 15% annual interest rate in order to
access credit; a rate which led to default, since in the longer term it was unsustainable (Nemiña, 2012; Salvia, 2009).
In this context of political weakness, the state management of the crisis did
manage a success with the inancial bail-out at the end of 2000. In order to avoid
default and to provide back-up for the country that had been the model of economic liberalization in the region (ramírez, 2012), the ImF supported the government with a inancial aid agreement, signed on 19 december 2000, that consisted
of a credit package to guarantee the ability of the State to meet debt repayments
and deal with the iscal deicit (ImF, 2001a). This inancial rescue package, known
as the ‘Shield’, approved credits of uSd 39,700 million, with an average interest
rate of 8%, half that which the State had agreed to on the voluntary debt market.
These credits were provided by the ImF, other multilateral credit organizations,
governments and private companies.10
With this inancing, the government hoped to change expectations about the
future of the economy, that it would lower interest rates and have a positive impact
on investment and consumption, stimulating economic activity. Effectively, after
the ‘Shield’ in January and February 2001, the country risk and interest rates fell.
However, this diagnosis would be demonstrated to be mistaken: gdP didn’t react
8
For a description of the labor flexibleness in the 1990s, including the law passed in 2000, see
marticorena (2012).
9
The country risk is measuring by the Emerging markets Bond Index Plus, produced by J.P. morgan.
10
The structure of the package was as follows: ImF uSd 13,700 million; Inter-American development
Bank (IdB), uSd 2,500 million; World Bank (WB) uSd 2500 million; Spanish government, uSd 1,000
million; private banks, uSd 10,000 million; pension funds (AFJP), uS 3,000 million; debt exchange
program uSd 10,000 million. Part of these funds were refinancing on public debts which had reached
their payment deadline (BCrA, 2001, p. 7; Salvia, 2011, p. 118).
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Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
positively to more favorable inancial conditions, falling 2% in the irst quarter of
2001, with more pronounced decreases in construction, agriculture and manufacturing (data from INdEC). Along with this, the iscal deicit in January-February
2001 exceeded the igure for the same period in 2000, and exceeded the level agreed
with the ImF for the Shield. As a consequence, the country risk rating rose again
at the end of February. The continuation of the recession and inancial dificulties
led to the resignation of the minister of Economy José Luis machinea (Salvia,
2012). This resignation demonstrated that the positive effects of the Shield were
wearing off, without having been able to convert the lower country risk and interest rates into greater investment and economic reactivation.
This situation was derived from the crisis itself: in conditions of reactivation,
an increase in competitiveness due to a jump in investment is possible, but during
a recession the route of reducing labor costs is more viable (Bonnet, 2008). So, during the Argentinean crisis, economic recovery required a low of inancial capital
and a period of maturing of investment which was not available. With a greater
appreciation of the peso and an ebb of capital back towards the central countries
(to cover the losses from the uS stock market crash in 2000), an investment recovery was highly unlikely. Likewise, without an increase in demand for exports and
with a depressed internal market, in other words without greater opportunities for
the sale of commodities, disinvestment took place regardless of the interest rate.
Adjustment and recovery policies in the debacle of convertibility
The alternatives open to the State in the management of the crisis within the
limits of convertibility were as follows: 1) to deepen the orthodox policies in an
attempt to resolve the iscal problems and reduce the need for credit, or 2) to switch
to a heterodox policy of encouraging investment through subsidies. State policies
vacillated between both options: in march 2001 the government drove forward
cuts to public spending with a failed adjustment policy championed by minister of
Economy ricardo López murphy, which was never even implemented. The cuts
were defeated by the resistance of state employees and students, a resistance which
penetrated the political system when government legislators failed to vote for the
package in Congress. López murphy’s brief tenure as minister of Economy ended
after his adjustment plan foundered (Piva, 2013).
Beyond the broad (though not monolithic) support of business owners, the
adjustment program failed. In terms of the political system, the program was
irmly rejected in Congress by governors and legislators of PJ, since adjustment
reduced the budget of the provinces and provincial subsidies. The rejection extended to the Alianza, as the adjustment directly affected their social bases a few
months before the parliamentary election. The rejection of the Alianza led to the
resignations of the top FrePaSo leaders in the government: the vice Chief of Bureau
of ministers, graciela Fernández meijide, two ministers and the Secretary general
of the Presidency. The President of the uCr, raúl Alfonsín, also rejected the proRevista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
335
gram as well as two ministers of the uCr who abandoned the government (Peralta
ramos, 2007).
The lack of support in the Alianza and the PJ showed the dificulties with
presenting the adjustment program as being in the general interest of the population.
These dificulties became clear with the resistance of state and private workers,
unemployed and college students, who carried out a large number of protest actions.
These actions included the entirety of the trade unions, the Peronist ‘Confederación
general del Trabajo’ (CgT), the state employees of ‘Central de Trabajadores de la
Argentina’ (CTA) related with the FrePaSo, the socialist and less important
‘Corriente Clasista y Combativa’ (CCC) and movements of unemployed workers
(Iñigo Carrera & Cotarelo, 2003). Also participating were the ‘Federación
universitaria Argentina’ (FuA) and the ‘Federación universitaria de Buenos Aires’
(FuBA) led by the youth of the uCr, in a student movement that exceeded these
representative organizations (Salvia, 2012).
After this failure the government swung towards the promotion of commodity production in April-June 2001. This heterodox turn in state policy was driven
forward by domingo Cavallo, the creator of convertibility and new minister of
Economy from the end of march 2001. The “competitiveness plans” that sought
to stimulate goods production by means of direct subsidies and tax exemptions,
were the main tools of this policy. In order to understand the importance of this,
we can see that in June 2001 the agreements which were reached in different industrial sectors represented 46% of the gross value of industrial production and
69% of industrial employment.11 The impact of the competitiveness plans on company proits was estimated as being around a 20% improvement, largely beneiting
labor-intensive activities, with an improved proitability estimated at 26.7% (CEP,
2001a, pp. 2-3; CEP, 2001b, p. 4). Along with this, a “convergence factor” for foreign trade changing from convertibility with the uS dollar to a currency basket
which included the Euro, at a ixed parity of $1 = uS$ 0,50 + Euro 0,50. This
convergence, implemented by the State charging import duties and subsidizing
exports, generated a 7.5% improvement in the real exchange rate for foreign trade,
which in practice was a sort of double exchange (Salvia, 2011, p. 121), as it rested
on a ixed change rate in relation to the dollar for every other operation.
Nevertheless, this heterodox policy depended on the availability of resources
which the State couldn’t obtain from taking on external debt. The means of generating these resources was based on increasing the tax burden on economic activity,
which had recessionary effects. The most important instrument for this was the tax
on current account transfers, also known as the cheque tax, since it placed a levy
on the use of this inancial tool that had a growing importance in tax collection.12
11
These were the automotive industry (terminal and auto parts), cultural industries, textiles, clothing,
footwear, capital goods, timber, furniture, plastics, cellulose and paper, tourism, cargo transportation
and cold-storage (CEP, 2001a).
12
National congress sanctioned this tax with a maximum charge of 0.6% for each current account
transaction, and established the obligation to pay by check or bank transfer for every operation over
1000 pesos (BorA, 2001).
336
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
In this way the recessionary character of the method of obtaining resources sterilized the impact of policies that stimulated goods production. Also, the continuing
recession made it more dificult to attain the resources necessary to sustain heterodox policies without increasing the iscal deicit.
In July 2001, the fragile economic situation and the implementation of the
“convergence factor” generated expectations about the abandonment of convertibility with a considerable increase of country risk rating, which reached 1,600
basis points (data from Ambito Financiero), a much higher igure than that which
had prompted the ‘Shield’. Thus, access to capital markets was closed off to
Argentina, even though the main destination of credit was meeting public debt
repayments (Lozano & Schorr, 2001). To demonstrate that it was sticking to convertibility and that it was willing to pay its debts, the government returned to orthodox policies based on iscal adjustment, with a shock measure: the Zero deicit
law. This law stipulated the reduction of primary spending by the State, in the
proportion that was necessary to meet public debt payments, and generated a 13%
cut to state salaries, pensions, purchase of supplies and public investment starting
from the August 2001.
The Zero deicit Law was passed despite the resistance of the workers’ organizations. This result relected the prestige Cavallo enjoyed as the creator of convertibility and the anticipated economic chaos if the zero deicit was not approved.
Between the announcement and the approval of the Law, the country risk had a
strong increase and the capital light reduced the foreign currency reserves by
$ 5,681 million, more than 21% (data from BCrA).
This orthodox shock policy achieved a moderate lowering of country risk
which lasted a month and a half, and had signiicant success in allowing the ImF
assistance to continue. on 7 September, the ImF approved a disbursement of uSd
5,050 million, aimed at strengthening currency reserves (ImF, 2001b), which was
deposited in the Central Bank (BCrA) on 10 September 2001. Along with this
disbursement, credit approved at the end of August also arrived from the IdB (InterAmerican development Bank), to the tune of uSd 500 million (IdB, 2001; IdB,
2002). With these credits and the dollars that the BCrA could purchase, the reserves increased by uSd 7,300 million between 7 September and the last working
day of that month (data from BCrA).
However, the recovery of external credit and currency reserves had a high cost:
the recessionary effect of Zero deicit. With this introduction of this law, the economy entered a pronounced downturn, with a fall in gdP of 4.9% in the third
quarter of 2001. This tendency intensiied both in manufacturing and construction,
with declines of 6.8% and 11.2% respectively and also in the inancial sector which
for the irst time displayed a considerable fall of 13.2% (data from INdEC). In
parallel, inancial volatility grew: after a drop which lasted a month and a half, the
country risk rating climbed consistently from mid-September, reaching more than
1,800 basis points at the start of october and 2,400 basis points at the beginning
of November (data from Ambito Financiero). This level of country risk exceeded
by 1,400 points the level that had been required by the ImF for the award of the
assistance necessary to avoid default.
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
337
banking restrictions, mass rebellion and the end of convertibility
Facing the ineffectiveness of the State in its handling of the crisis, companies
needed an individual solution, meaning protection of their most immediate economic interests through a withdrawal from investment, and the accelerated drainage of currency reserves. In the irst few days of october a serious run on the peso
began, with a mass withdrawal of bank deposits and their transference abroad,
which had a deinitive impact on reserves. In less than two months this process had
consumed all the currency which had been accumulated with the credit from the
ImF and IdB; by 21 November reserves had arrived back at the levels they were
before this international inancing (data from BCrA). Along with this, investment
registered serious year-on-year decline, of 17.2% and 28.6% in the third and fourth
quarters of 2001, with even greater falls in industrial machinery of 29.5% and
40.8% in the same quarters (data from INdEC). In this way business owners protected their individual capital from the risks of an eventual devaluation and from
the problems of realizing sales of commodities, making impossible a resolution of
the crisis under convertibility. Economic activity collapsed, credit became much
more expensive, tax revenues were affected and it became impossible to keep the
Zero deicit.
The impotence of the State to ind a way out of the crisis was growing.
government legitimacy was weakened because of the dificulties for presenting its
policies as being in the general interest of society and also the workers’ resistance
to the cuts, the march adjustment and Zero deicit Law. The weakness of the government increased after the defeat of the Alianza in the parliamentary elections of
october 2001 against the PJ and the so-called “protest vote” (a combination of
blank and spoiled ballots) and after the split of the uCr and FrePaSo in National
Congress.
The political crisis grew parallel to the economic crisis. In the fourth quarter
of 2001, economic activity dropped by 9.5%, with the most serious falls of 15.4%
in manufacturing, 22.7% in construction and 20.6% in the inancial sector (data
from INdEC). In this context, the ImF decided to cut off credit to the State, boosting the light of deposits from the banking system, along with the loss of currency
reserves. The government’s reaction was to establish restrictions on the withdrawal of bank deposits to avoid their conversion into foreign currency, in what became
known as the “Corralito”, enforced from the irst working day of december.
Starting from that moment, the way out of the crisis was the end to convertibility. Social protest grew from the establishment of the “Corralito”, culminating
in the mass social rebellion of 19-20 december 2001. This rebellion broke the state
of siege the government had imposed to try to contain the situation. The growth
of social protest implied the participation of different social sectors, in particular
the poorest sections of the working class, traders and people who had had their
savings seized. The forms of protest included looting, road blocks, strikes, demonstrations (‘cacerolazos’), electricity blackouts and street battles against the police
(Bonnet, 2006; Iñigo Carrera & Cotarelo, 2003; Piva, 2013). The rebellion pro338
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
voked the resignation of President de la rúa and the recall of the two chambers of
congress to choose a new President. With this, the phase of convertibility and the
neoliberal form of the State ended (Bonnet & Piva, 2013). From then onwards, a
period of changes in State policy began, starting with the abandonment of the ixed
exchange rate.13
By WAy oF CoNCLuSIoN
Above we have analyzed the period of boom and crisis under convertibility in
Argentina from 1991 to 2001. The preceding analysis demonstrates some of the
features of the relationship between State and market. The neoliberal reforms
framed by convertibility permitted a cycle of strong economic growth and an intense restructuring of capital. The State and the market mutually reinforced each
other in the boom phase, and weakened each other during the entire crisis phase.
In the phase of the convertibility boom, the neoliberal reforms allowed considerable growth in productivity, which overcame the stagnation of previous decades and generated a reduction of the productivity gap internationally for
Argentina. Changes in state regulations on the labor market, the expansion of unregistered work and unemployment, and the weakening of unions, allowed stagnation of real wages. Thus investment and proits expanded. In this way, the capitalist restructuring and state power strengthened each other: neoliberal reforms
implemented by the state made restructuring possible, and the success of this restructuring contributed to generating social consensus around government program.
From the end of 1998 the crisis of accumulation reduced the state’s power,
until the point when its policies were no longer viable. The crisis caused a stagnation of production and its decline in international terms, the reduction of proits
and the contraction of capital, with a serious fall in investment. The situation
provoked a major deterioration in the living conditions of the working class, with
the expulsion of the labor force from the most affected sectors, cuts to state salaries
and pensions, an increase of unemployment and poverty.
13
The rigidity of Convertibility Plan contributes to explain the differences between Brazilian and
Argentine crisis. Brazil had an economic slowdown since third quarter of 1997, with a sustained loss of
currency reserves in the second half of 1998. The Brazilian government made a gradually devaluation
of the real, covered his financial needs with a bailout from the ImF and implemented fiscal adjustment
programs (like the ‘Programa de Estabilidade Fiscal’). The Argentine government lacked this tool because
the nominal exchange rate had been fixed by law, and didn’t receive a financial bailout by the ImF until
december 2000. Consequently, the way out of the crisis in Brazil was less dramatic than in Argentina.
Brazil achieved a slight growth of gdP in 1999 and a strong growth in 2000, public debt stopped
growing and unemployment fell in 2000-01 (Filgueiras, 2000). Argentina had a profound decline of
gdP in 1999-2001, the Central Bank had a severe loss of currency reserves in the second half of 2001
and public debt had a strong increase until 2004. Between 1998 and 2002, unemployment grew more
than 50% and poverty was duplicated. devaluation of the peso wasn’t gradually: the nominal exchange
rate increased 236% during 2002 (Salvia, 2012).
Revista de Economia Política 35 (2), 2015 • pp. 325-342
339
The success of convertibility for the capital restructuring explains the continuing of support from business owners and government. on the one hand, convertibility had achieved price stability, which was essential for the reconstruction of
social consensus and state power; on the other hand, it had managed to expand
capital accumulation, increase investment and beneits, reform labor laws and reduce trade union power. In the crisis phase, the maintenance of convertibility was
the guarantee against any possible retreats in the gains made by capital and state.
In the second half of 2001, this maintenance of convertibility made the situation worse, with the ineffectiveness of state policies to overcome the crisis. The real
economy entered a depression and inancial instability was boundless, neutralizing
the credit support given by ImF and IdB to normalize the situation. In this context,
the individual action of business owners in a move to protect their own capital,
with the withdrawal of bank deposits to convert them into dollars, produced an
unprecedented loss of currency reserves. The capital light made convertibility unsustainable.
Thus, the economic crisis constituted simultaneously a crisis for the neoliberal
form of the State, which had sanctioned the conditions for accumulation under
convertibility. The failure of the neoliberal form of the State became crystal clear
with the restrictions to bank deposit withdrawals and the declaration of a state of
siege. These measures marked the State’s weakest point, when its power was waning and its policies lacked all viability. As a result, the mass popular rebellion
overwhelmed the State, leading to the anticipated fall of the government and the
end of convertibility.
After this, under a provisional government, the State drove forward on a new
economic policy, which produced signiicant changes in the market. dealing with
those changes would demand a speciic analysis, which exceeds the limits of this
article.
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