ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and explains the reform of Argentine economic institutions, emphasizing the ways in which it was influenced by the context of policy choices. The approach leaves aside the normative perspective, which, claiming the principle of the universal rationality of structural reforms, tends to focus on the analysis of whether a given strategy fits or doesn't fit a prescriptive model. The chapter focuses on the first wave of structural reforms implemented during the initial phase of the Menem administration between 1989 and 1990. It notes what happened with the social security reform and with the reduction of taxes aimed at correcting relative prices. The chapter shows that the growth in public expenditure in 1991 and 1994 made politically feasible the structural changes advocated by the executive and reluctantly accepted by some official party members. The economic reactivation attenuated business closings, which typically accompany trade liberalization policies.
