Author: CAEDEN IGNASZAK

Hi Leah!

I’m Caeden!  I’m a political economy student at the City University of New York, where I focus on uneven development and financial imperialism. I’ve been living in Argentina since February, where I’ve propped up a front row seat to a truly curious country. With your background in writing on international affairs and development, I’m sure you know that Argentina is rich with stories about the pitfalls of a global economy. We briefly interacted on twitter, where I asked if you’d be interested in working with an inexperienced writer. With candor, I’d like you to know that this will be my first time reporting internationally!

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The infamously cyclical Argentine economy, like many in the underdeveloped Global South, has always lived and died by exports. After a historic crash in 2001, Argentina rode the commodity boom to a recovery that would eventually be known as the “Argentine Miracle.” Argentina transitioned much of its famed farmland from cow production to soy production, and is now the 3rd largest soybean exporter in the world, supplying China with endless amounts of the product. These exports brought much needed foreign reserves to Argentina and were essential in stabilizing the economy.

This apparently miraculous recovery was not without a darker side. Soybeans are not a labor intensive product, and thousands of agricultural workers were forced out of their jobs and into precarious shantytowns situated around the cities. These shantytowns, villas as they’re called here, are now the centers of the pandemic and the source of countless deaths. In addition to worker displacement, Pueblos Fumigados across the interior of Argentina have been blanketed by fertilizer planes, turning water supplies and subsistence crops into poison. The generation born after the initial soybean boom has seen high rates of malignant deformities in children, a terrible testament to the dark side of agricultural exports.

The Argentine economy, already reeling from double digit inflation and rickety fundamentals, has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With dwindling foreign reserves and a GDP poised to drop by 12.5%, China is offering yet another potential lifeline in the form of pork imports. However, just like soybeans, factory farmed pork comes with a poison pill of it’s own. In addition to the high methane emissions inherent in factory farming, the work conditions in pork plants are ripe for the transfer of zoonotic disease, potentially resulting in another public health crisis.

I’d like to use this story to explore the pitfalls of the export economy, and detail the sacrifices that Argentina has made in order to

I see this story being around 2000 words, featuring interviews with sources that will address the economic, social, ecological, and labor impacts of Argentina’s export-oriented economy in 2020. Depending on travel restrictions, I’d like to travel to the interior of the country to interview and take pictures.

Look forward to hearing if you think this will be a good fit for Vice, and congrats on the new role!

Best,
Caeden Ignaszak

I’ve taken the relevant questions and adjusted them for my beat.

Why did they come? When? 

Argentina’s population is as melty of a melting pot as New York, with palpable influences from a veritable medley of cultures. Argentina’s economy was booming in the 1920s, spurring a large wave of migration from Italy, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire. Later on, World War 2 and ensuing Cold War-adjacent conflict prompted waves of immigration from Germany, Jewish populations in Europe, China, and Korea.

What are some major organizations/advocacy groups/resources in this community? I’ll be 

List/link the major media houses in the home country.

La Nacion – La Nacion is the largest newspaper in Buenos Aires. It has a significant bias towards the Juntos por el Cambio political party, a pro-business/center right coalition.

Pagina12 – Pagina12 is the de facto mouthpiece of the Frente de Todos political party, a center-left coalition of which the president, Alberto Fernandez is a part.

In the homeland what is the GDP per capita? Where does that rank in the world? What are the major industries? 

GDP per capita in Argentina is low, about usd$10,006. A sharp decline from 2017, in which it was usd$14,581. While numbers are often deceptive, that precipitous drop is absolutely illustrative of the recent economic crisis experienced here. Abolition of capital controls by the previous government caused widespread capital flight and severely devalued the currency. Now Argentina is experiencing yearly inflation of ~50%, one of the highest values in the world.

Major industry in Argentina revolves, like many  Latin American countries, around exports. A large swath of the country is covered by the pampas, incredibly fertile lowland so perfect for bovines that it is the only place the beasts have ever gone feral. Over the past 20 years, this rich agricultural land has served as a source of vast amounts of soybean exports, particularly to China. Soy takes after the deep Argentine tradition of agricultural exports, a practice that saw it’s economy become one of the riches in the world up until the 1930s.

Argentina’s position as an exporter has long been internally debated. Home to the godfather of development economics, Raúl Prébisch, Argentina has tried to develop it’s economy using Import Substitution Industrialization. This practice goes back to the 50s, and has resulted in a political economic system that is deeply protectionist. The steep tariffs, strict capital controls, and generally isolationist policies have resulted in a very unique economy that’s earned its distinction of being the butt of one the favorite jokes of economic professors everywhere – that there are only four types of economies: developed, undeveloped, Japan, and Argentina.

is the system of government? When did this system come into place? Was there a colonial power? (Or was it the colonial power?) 

Argentina has a federal representative democracy. Much like the US, executive power is vested in the president, legislative in the National Congress, and Judicial in an independent court system. The democratic system has been in place since ’83, the year that Argentina emerged out of a deeply dark period of liberal military dictatorship. The influence of the dictatorship runs deep, with memorials to the many thousands killed scattered around the country.

Give three potential story ideas. (Doesn’t need to be a fully fleshed-out pitch yet, but should be well thought-out.)

1. Featurey piece on the human impact of inflation and other results of international finance decisions.
2. Story on the informal economy. Community workers, unpaid and unorganized, and bearing the brunt of the fight against the pandemic. As an effort to expand the tax base and offer labor protections, the Peronist government is  aiming to offer informal workers monthly salaries and documentation.
3. How are agricultural advocacy organizations responding to the massive transition to soybean production over the past two decades? What human impact has this had? What are the reactions to the possibility of massive pork production for China?
4. Possible ramifications of Argentina joining the BRI.

I haven’t nailed down my interview yet, I have scheduling conflicts with my source. That said, I have a contact who’s involved in the Union de Trabajadores de la Tierra, a labor union of landless farm workers that advocates for agricultural workers and climate-friendly policy. Hoping to interview them next week!

This semester I’ll be telling stories about the impacts of international finance on working people in Argentina. Infamous as an economic anomaly and the IMF’s problem child, the South American country will spend 2020 wrapped in negotiations over public debt issued to a former presidents government. In August, Argentina renegotiated roughly USD$60 billion in privately held sovereign debt. As they begin to tango with the IMF over USD$45 billion, I’d like to tell the stories of people whose lives have been impacted by the country’s prior agreements with multilateral institutions. How does 50% inflation impact ones ability to save for a home? How do stringent capital controls impact an aspiring tech start up? What does a future look like for the young and educated populace whose economic opportunity seems so precarious?

In addition to exploring issues and stories around economic justice, I’d like to report on an issue I find fascinating – the informal, or popular, economy and how the Argentine government is striving to bring more informal workers into the economy. Community workers, essential to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina’s poorest neighborhoods, are largely without labor rights or a living wage. The Argentine government is attempting to document these workers and provide them with monthly salaries in an endeavor to expand the formal economy and grow the tax base.

I’ll report these stories by talking to sources on the ground in Buenos Aires, as using databases from both the government and international organizations.