All the Answers
Well-known member
Why in Argentina poverty continued to increase while Uruguay and Chile managed to reduce it - Infobae
Source:
Por qué en la Argentina siguió aumentando la pobreza mientras Uruguay y Chile consiguieron reducirla
Países con perfiles asimilables y que alternaron gobiernos de izquierda y de derecha dejaron atrás la inflación y mejoraron sus indicadores sociales en los últimos 20 años
www.infobae.com
April 03, 2024
Countries with similar profiles and that alternated left-wing and right-wing governments left inflation behind and improved their social indicators in the last 20 years
By Fernando Meaños
File photo of a girl walking down a street in a depressed area in the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina). EFE/ Juan Ignacio Roncoroni
The latest official data from Indec on the poverty rate confirmed that Argentina returned to the levels it had at the most critical moment of the pandemic. Thus, it extended over time a trend in which it shows that its critical social evolution, linked to inflation, is distinguished from what happened in its neighboring countries in which, beyond local particularities and policies of their governments, the amount of poor in the last two decades has decreased while in Argentina it continued to grow.
“ Social backwardness is a phenomenon typical of Argentina . Starting from a similar initial situation in 2006, when the three countries began to experience a great international prosperity, in Argentina the poverty rate increased by 50%, while Chile and Uruguay reduced it to 7% and 10% , respectively. . In between there was no natural catastrophe, war or invasion; The three countries share similar racial and cultural profiles and faced the same international context,” stated a report from the Argentine Institute for Social Development (IDESA), directed by economist Jorge Colina.
According to information published by the official statistical institutes of each country, it is observed that:
● In Argentina in 2006 poverty affected 27% of the population while in 2023 it affects 42% .
● In Uruguay, poverty in 2006 affected 25% of the population while in 2023 it affects only 10% .
● In Chile, poverty in 2006 was 29% of the population while in 2023 it affects only 7% .
Although the three countries do not measure poverty with the same basket or the same parameters, “the trend is so clear that it leaves behind any methodological issue,” explained Colina, who puts inflation, in first place, and the lack of growth in the economy, secondly, as central factors to explain the differences. “We are with the same indicators as in the pandemic; everyone else has already recovered,” she noted.
For Colina, the data “support the thesis that the high and chronic poverty rate in Argentina is a derivative of bad public policies supported by broad sectors of society . ” Among them, the excesses of public spending financed with monetary emission and public debt stand out, the use of the State to benefit spurious interests, disdain for professionalism and efficiency in public management, poor organization of the tax system and federal co-participation, disorder pension, isolation from the world and perverse labor regulations.”
Source: Idesa based on data from Indec and the INE of Uruguay and Chile
“That a majority part of the political system has supported, or at least tolerated, these bad policies is the main difference with Uruguay and Chile. In these countries, which were governed alternately by left-wing and right-wing coalitions, much more consistent and rational public policies were sustained ,” he added.
For Colina, the so-called “structural poverty” and rates above 25% would not be possible without inflation as high as the current one. If there were financial stability even without growth in economic activity, the level of poverty would not reach such high levels. Something like this happened in the 90s. Peaks in poverty coincided with inflationary jumps.
In that sense, the economist highlighted that the Basic Basket with which Indec measures poverty had an average increase of 77% per year during Alberto Fernández 's administration . In the same period , the salaries of informal workers grew by just 60%.
The path to retrace these dramatic indices is not through any saving product but through long-term decisions to lower inflation. “Poverty is a by-product of perseverance in applying wrong policies. Therefore, it will not be reversed with a 'miracle' ( Dead Cow, lithium, high agricultural prices or some other exogenous event). It is essential to bring rationality to public policies,” said Colina.
The expert highlights that the new government put the fiscal issue and the need to balance public accounts at the top of the agenda. In Colina's opinion, the arrival of Javier Milei to power “broke the inertia with disruptive ideas.” But that will not be enough if he cannot manage efficiently to transform those ideas into concrete changes: “The endorsement of those ideas is an opportunity. Now political and technical management capacity is needed in the State .”
“Milei had the vision and virtue to convince the population that we must break with the wrong consensus that supports bad policies . He acceded to the presidency without falling into the temptation of repeating 'politically correct' slogans. On the contrary, he did so by emphatically and crudely raising the need to advance a strong reorganization of the public sector. Coming to power with a clear and unambiguous message about the need to question wrong consensus constitutes an unprecedented opportunity,” he concluded.
