Argentina’s experiment in libertarianism and behavioural political economy: Lessons for South Africa

Abstract

Argentina's shift to libertarian ‘shock therapy’ under Javier Milei marks a radical effort to dismantle a populist, state-driven model within a democratic framework. After decades of inflation, crisis and welfare expansion, Milei aims to redirect the economy towards fiscal discipline, deregulation and market-led growth. Rather than a simple test of libertarian doctrine, this article reads the reforms as a context-contingent experiment, advancing the concept of ‘state dependency’ through a behavioural political-economy lens, to show how dispositions shaped by hyperinflation and serial default both enable and constrain adjustment. Adopting a theory-building single-case design, it treats Argentina as the primary case and South Africa as an illustrative probe, contrasting Milei’s libertarianism with the developmental-state logic of Operation Vulindlela. Early successes are read as provisional. It concludes that while elements may inform development debates in Africa, and South Africa in particular, direct policy transfer is limited by differing political, institutional and historical conditions.