Argentina Since Martinez De Hoz

The paper reviews macroeconomic events and policies in Argentina in the period 1981-1984. In that period inflation,that had decelerated to less than 100 percent, resumed and reached irore than 600 percent in mid-1984. The real exchange rate that had appreciated in the policy of disinflation depreciated sharply and, in the end-phase, real wages grew more than forty percent. These events, by Northern-Atlantic standards, are dramatic and the paper attempts to sort out the main issues and connections. Special attention is paid to the role of the real exchange rate and its relation to real wages, the determinants of the black market premium for foreign exchange, and to the budget.