A black market, a currency crisis, and a tango competition in Argentina

Planet Money

NPR

Business, News

4.6 • 29.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Nobel-prize winning economist Simon Kuznets once analyzed the world's economies this way — he said there are four kinds of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan... and Argentina.

If you want to understand what happens when inflation really goes off the rails, go to Argentina. Annual inflation there, over the past year, was 124 percent. Argentina's currency, the peso, is collapsing, its poverty rate is above 40 percent, and the country may be on the verge of electing a far right Libertarian president who promises to replace the peso with the dollar. Even in a country that is already deeply familiar with economic chaos, this is dramatic.

In this episode, we travel to Argentina to try to understand: what is it like to live in an economy that's on the edge? With the help of our tango dancer guide, we meet all kinds of people who are living through record inflation and political upheaval. Because even as Argentina's economy tanks, its annual Mundial de Tango – the biggest tango competition in the world – that show is still on.

This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Erika Beras. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with help from James Sneed. It was engineered by Maggie Luthar, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and edited by Molly Messick. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Transcript

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0:09.2	are in the journey.
0:10.5	Learn more at Honeywell.com slash NPR.
0:15.0	This is Planet Money from NPR.
0:20.1	The Nobel Prize winning economist Simon Kuznetz once analyzed the world's economies this
0:25.1	way.
0:26.1	He said there are four kinds of countries developed, underdeveloped Japan, and Argentina.
0:32.3	Ah, Argentina.
0:34.2	If you want to understand what happens when inflation really goes off the rails, go to Argentina.
0:41.0	Annual inflation there over the past year was 124%.
0:46.6	Even in a country that's already deeply familiar with economic chaos, this is dramatic.
0:52.2	So a couple of weeks ago, we went to Argentina to see what this all looks like.
0:58.3	And we arrived, along with thousands of other foreigners, because even as the country's
1:02.7	economy was tanking, it's Mundial Detango, the biggest tango competition in the world with
1:09.0	a very charming MC, Mr. Carlos Linn.
1:15.2	That show was still on.
1:19.7	When we walk into the competition, there are nine couples on stage, all dressed very formally,
1:24.8	men in dark suits, the women in gold lame, dark red velvet, black satin.
1:33.8	The couples dance in a slow counterclockwise circle.
1:37.6	We are, after all, south of the equator.
1:39.8	The moves are dramatic, improvised, yet synchronized.
	...

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