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The debates between demand-pull and cost-push theories of inflation have shaped stabilization programs since the 1923 German hyperinflation. This article combines elements from the modern revival of the Classical tradition of value and distribution and the Latin American Structuralist Approach to analyse the political economy behind Argentina's high-inflation regime and stabilization policies from 1983 to 1989. Our main hypothesis is that exchange rate dynamics play a crucial role in stabilizing distributive configurations and price dynamics in a small open economy with conflicting claims. High external debt, persistent devaluation expectations, and exchange rate policies imposed by international creditors to safeguard the economy's repayment capacity are identified as the primary causes behind the failure of stabilization attempts in Argentina during the late 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article extends the recent revisions to the two-sector model of Latin American structuralism, following the classical tradition approach, to a small economy with an advanced stage of industrialisation. After considering the incorporation of a third sector, which produces capital goods and is controlled by foreign capital, the relationships between distribution and balance of payments are analysed. The extended model enables an analytical formulation of O'Donnell's 'Pendulum', by putting forward various distributive configuration alternatives on the basis of different types of alliances between the classes described therein, as well as by identifying the limitations faced by each coalition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-lasting, distributive changes in Argentina during the 1970s have been extensively studied from different theoretical perspectives. What has not yet been sufficiently examined, however, are the reasons behind the non-monotonic trends observed on income distribution during this period and, in particular, under the dictatorial regime (1976–83). To fill this gap, we have developed a model inspired in the modern Classical-Structuralist approach to income distribution. We argue that the irregular trend of the real wage reveals that only a partial correspondence exists between the class interests of the 1976 coup and the effects on income distribution of the successive economic programs implemented by the dictatorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]