Some lessons of the Argentine privatization process

The reduction of the role of the State in the Latin American economies has become one of the central topics in the debate on the process of the economic and social restructuring of the region. Because of the magnitude and rapidity of its achievements, the programme carried out in Argentina in the early 1990s is seen as a paradigm which gives rise to reflection and offers a broad range of lessons for those countries seeking to maximize the social benefits that could be obtained from the privatization of public enterprises. From this point of view, the present article highlights some of the main macroeconomic repercussions of the privatization process (in the fiscal sphere, the external sector, the structure of relative prices, and investment), together with its effects on market formation and the strategies of the main business conglomerates of the country, the forms of public regulation of the privatized areas, and the limitations and shortcomings observed.