For this episode, Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg are joined by Sebastian Bensusan, an Argentinian engineer, to discuss Argentina's unique inflation problem, its agricultural and mining sectors, dollarization, voting patterns, and more. Match a donation up to $100 for your favorite charity with GiveWell by going to https://givewell.org and pick “Podcast” and enter Econ 102 at checkout. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. -- Sponsors: GIVEWELL | NETSUITE Have you ever wondered where your donation could have the most impact? GiveWell has now spent over 15 years researching charitable organizations and only directs funding to the highest impact opportunities they’ve found in global health and poverty alleviation. Make informed decisions about high-impact giving. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year, or as long as matching funds last. To claim your match, go to https://givewell.org and pick “Podcast” and enter Econ 102 at checkout. NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite http://netsuite.com/102 and download your own customized KPI checklist. -- Econ 102 is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: www.turpentine.co – LINKS: - Sebastian Bensusan's blog: https://blog.sbensu.com/ - Noahpinion on Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/ - Noah Smith, "Argentina's macroeconomic situation is even worse up close" on Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/argentinas-macroeconomic-situation – X / TWITTER: @noahpinion (Noah) @sebasbensu (Sebastian) @eriktorenberg (Erik) – TIMESTAMPS: (00:55) Episode Preview (03:25) Argentina's Economy & Industries (09:00) Lack of Development State (14:19) Argentina's Welfare State (15:45) SPONSOR: GIVEWELL (17:41) Fiscal Dominance & Monetary Financing (28:20) Hyperinflation & Dollarization (30:46) SPONSOR: NETSUITE (43:27) Inflation & Threshold Effects (48:39) Impact of Inflation on Bonds & Borrowers (52:55) The Vicious Cycle of Inflation in Argentina (55:10) Effects on Savings (57:36) Need for Development State (01:00:01) Replacing Welfare State with Growth (01:08:14) Privatization & Corruption in Argentina (01:10:40) The Essence of a Development State (01:13:04) Refocusing Argentina on Real Economy (01:14:03) Process-Oriented vs Outcome-Oriented (01:14:59) Post-Macroeconomics Argentina