Making Sense of Argentina: Inflation, Milei, Macro with Sebastian Bensusan
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For this episode, Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg are joined by Sebastian Bensusan, an Argentinian engineer, to discuss Argentina's unique inflation problem, its agricultural and mining sectors, dollarization, voting patterns, and more. Match a donation up to $100 for your favorite charity with GiveWell by going to https://givewell.org) and pick “Podcast” and enter Econ 102 at checkout.

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We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com).

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Sponsors: GIVEWELL | NETSUITE

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Econ 102 is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: www.turpentine.co)

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LINKS:

• Sebastian Bensusan's blog: https://blog.sbensu.com/)

• Noahpinion on Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/)

• Noah Smith, "Argentina's macroeconomic situation is even worse up close" on Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/argentinas-macroeconomic-situation)

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X / TWITTER:

@noahpinion) (Noah)

@sebasbensu) (Sebastian)

@eriktorenberg) (Erik)

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:55) Episode Preview

(03:25) Argentina's Economy & Industries

(09:00) Lack of Development State

(15:45) SPONSOR: GIVEWELL

(28:20) Hyperinflation & Dollarization

(30:46) SPONSOR: NETSUITE

(43:27) Inflation & Threshold Effects

(48:39) Impact of Inflation on Bonds & Borrowers

(55:10) Effects on Savings

(01:00:01) Replacing Welfare State with Growth

(01:08:14) Privatization & Corruption in Argentina

(01:13:04) Refocusing Argentina on Real Economy

(01:14:59) Post-Macroeconomics Argentina