#105 | Argentina in chainsaw mode

"If you don't want inflation, you have to reduce government spending."

A president who raffles off his salary, dismisses thousands of civil servants, radically deregulates—and gains approval in the process? Argentina is currently undergoing a live economic policy experiment that is attracting worldwide attention. Javier Milei is taking a radical approach: he is cutting back, privatizing, and deliberately disempowering the state. Unthinkable for many—a liberating move for his supporters.

"When the state shrinks, the economy grows—not the other way around."

Philipp Bagus is a professor of economics in Madrid and one of the few German-speaking representatives of the Austrian School. He knows Javier Milei personally and visited Buenos Aires to form his own opinion. In conversation with Georgiy Michailov, he explains how Milei's course is economically justified and why young Argentinians in particular support a president who thinks differently.

"Milei's greatest achievement is that he has changed the way Argentinians think."

What does this radical change mean for Europe? How does a minimal state differ from the classic welfare state? What role do the media, narratives, and symbolism play? Philipp Bagus examines the implications that Milei's success or failure could have for our European understanding of the state, the market, and justice.

*Video only in German