SOMETIMES IT'S GOOD to be ignored. Last year,
when delegates from around the world flew to the annual
meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in Fortaleza,
Brazil, the situation in Argentina was very much on their
minds. The country had gone through a chaotic default and
devaluation, and the resultant social, political and economic
upheaval was enormous. Moreover, while many of the delegates
had seen the crisis coming, none of them had foreseen just how
bad the situation would get: wholesale violation of contracts
and property rights, and crime, poverty and unemployment
soaring to unprecedented levels.
This year, for all that Argentina seems well set on a steady
growth path, the country has largely fallen off the radar screen.
The default hysteria has long gone: in the fourth quarter of 2002
Argentine Brady bonds saw just $638 million of trading volume, down
from $18.24 billion a year earlier. Five years of recession have
resulted in...
