The Velocity of Dirty Money: What the Grubby 100-Peso Notes Say About Inflation in Argentina

Be prepared for the next great transfer of wealth. Buy physical silver and storable food.

wolfstreet.com / by Bianca Fernet / November 23, 2014

By Bianca Fernet, stilettos-on-the-ground American economist in Buenos Aires, antidote to economists who act like economics is too complicated to understand and who spout off buzzwords that make you feel inadequate. Her website The Bubble covers pop and econ topics in Argentina. 

You know that feeling when you touch a crisp Argentine peso note?

In fact, you’ve probably noticed that your peso bills are quite the opposite. Generally pretty tattered, often taped together, and sometimes all around limp and damp. While I lack adequate resources to do a full comparative study on the quality of Argentine peso paper via other papers in the world, the weary state of our peso notes is likely more due to inflation. Inflation in Argentina has been around for literally the better part of the century. In fact, a recent post even discussed if Argentines don’t really react to the phenomenon anymore.

Although inflation is not new here, it still receives a great deal of attention on the political front. The government maintains a frozen price list for a basket of consumer goods, and the statistics agency INDEC claims one can eat on ARS $10 pesos per day. The Bubble’s own Sam Pothecary recently tested the claim and he’s still around (I think?), so at least we know that to be true to some extent.

READ MORE

The post The Velocity of Dirty Money: What the Grubby 100-Peso Notes Say About Inflation in Argentina appeared first on Silver For The People.

Thanks to BrotherJohnF