The Argentinian case: the history of an economy plagued by inflation and the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war

Year 2022 has been full of events, mostly negative, but which have undoubtedly led to a clearer awareness of the global economic and financial balance. Global powers had not yet fully recovered from the recurring lockdowns due to Covid-19 when the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine happened. One of the topics that was most discussed and heard about has been inflation. Some countries have not suffered from this phenomenon in a clearly perceptible way for many years, which made them more sensitive to the recent shock than other countries more used to constant inflationary trends. In the latter group is possible to find Argentina. This thesis project stems from the interest in analyzing how a country that in the early 1900s represented one of the most promising emerging states in the world, found itself, less than a century later, characterised by latent inflation, which on a couple of occasions escalated into hyperinflation, and reeling from one of the most granid defaults in modern history. This troubled history is presented with a view to shed light on the current implications of inflation for Argentinian growth and development. The first part of the work describes in theoretical terms what inflation is, the two main approaches that can be used to defining it and an insight into hyperinflation, especially in the Latin America area. Secondly, the behavior and the actions undertaken by the governments that have led Argentina starting from 1950 will be addressed, with a specific focus over the economic policies implemented in response to the country's socio-economic conditions. The third part of the work is more oriented over the agricultural sector that has been the most reliable one in term of State revenue and fiscal contribution. Finally, an analysis over which are the effect that the Russia-Ukraine war have had on this specific sector will be carried out in order to define which are the impact on the Argentia’s economy. Finally, conclusion are drawn on the problems that Argentina's economy is still facing today and how, although closely related to what is presented in this paper, the current war seems to rather surprisingly represent an opportunity for the country.