Nacionales (ingles)
Women’s Day calls for reflection on the multiple facets that women´s discrimination take shape. A particularly important one is in the access of women to the labor market. If many poor women who do not work today could do it, poverty could be cut by half.
MOREThe concern about the price of the dollar is a constant in the lives of Argentines. The dollar will stop being a problem the day that Argentina substantially increases its exports. Neighboring countries are achieving this on the basis of exporting much more than Argentina measured in terms of inhabitants.
MOREAccepting that public schools are for the poor and private schools for families with medium and high incomes deepens social fragmentation. It would be more equitable and efficient to give the lower income families the possibility of also choosing a private school with financing and controls of the state.
MOREThe government ordered a reduction of distortionary taxes for certain sectors of production. This is a good sign, but it is insufficient to get out of recession and risky for the goal of fiscal balance. Improving VAT management is the way out of this challenging trade-off.
MOREOnly half of the potential resources are collected with VAT. Therefore, instead of continuing to increase taxes that discourage production and employment, efforts should be concentrated on better VAT administration. To this end, a profound transformation of the tax administration is unavoidable.
MOREIn the crisis, there is a proliferation of unhelpful proposals since they generate more public expenditure or less revenue. With innovative ideas and coordination between jurisdictions, the reform of the labor risk system shows that social protection and competitiveness can be improved without raising the fiscal deficit.
MOREMc Donald’s famous burger is used to compare the exchange rates between countries. With this indicator, the dollar in Argentina appears quite misaligned to neighboring countries. This can be useful to temporarily adjust the external sector but it is still pending to achieve competitiveness in more genuine ways.
MOREThe low fiscal deficit is good news but should be taken with caution since it was based on the inflationary surge. The reason is that the fiscal revenues follow the increase in prices while pensions and public salaries do the same but with delay. Sustainable fiscal balance can only be achieved through fiscal reforms.
MOREBolsonaro shows arrogance in the approach to many problems in Brazil. But it manifests a striking ambiguity and timidity in the face of the severe pension crisis. As it happens in Argentina, opting for gradualism to face this challenge is the best way to make the government plan fail.
MORETo overcome the recurrence of economic crises, it is essential to clean up the public finances. This demands a more sustainable pension system. The reforms should consider that Argentina, a country still relatively young, spends on retirements more than much older societies.
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