The Argentine Austral Plan of 1985: stabilization or structural reforms? Economic policy at the crossroads of neoliberal restructuring

Abstract

In this paper we propose to address the Austral anti-inflationary stabilization plan, launched in the years of Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989) by a group of technicians who disrupted the economic canons of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR). We
maintain that the Austral, despite having been extensively analyzed in its anti-inflationary aspect, received less attention concerning the debates about the economic reforms that Argentina would seek as a result of the years of stagnation and crisis. The materials analyzed to base the study have been various -{}- from testimonies and the contemporary press -{}- to the economic approaches and institutional sources of those years. Finally, we affirm that the understanding of Austral passes through the link between economic stabilization and structural reforms. This understanding helps analyze the stage prior to the neoliberal boom.