Inflation, Consumer Subsidies, and Argentina’s Economic Predicament

Alison Post 

Part of the Fall 2018 Bay Area Latin America Forum

September 13, 2018

The speaker is sitting in the corner head of a large table, sitting with an  audience in meeting room, while presenting.

Event Description

Argentina’s economic travails are making headlines again. One of the main contributors to the country’s current challenges is a consumer subsidy program for electricity, gas, mass transit, and other infrastructure services, which disproportionately benefits middle-class voters over poorer citizens. This lecture will examine the program’s origins following the 2001 crisis, why expenditures on consumer subsidies have grown dramatically over time, and how they continue to constrain the government’s ability to tackle the country’s economic problems.

Speaker

Alison Post is an associate professor of Political Science and Global Metropolitan Studies at UC Berkeley and a co-director of the Global Metropolitan Studies Program. Her research lies at the intersection of comparative urban politics and comparative political economy.