[stop-imf] CEPR's Baker v. WPost on Argentina

[Robert Weissman]

Welcome to the Real Economy

Monday, January 7, 2002; Page A16

Washington Post (letter)

The Post's free-market models apparently keep
failing because the politicians who implement them
"feel that accomplishing three-quarters of their
objectives is good enough" ["Argentina's Model
Crash," editorial, Dec. 24].

This is the real world -- if a policy designed by
economists gets followed three-quarters of the
way, that's about as good as you're going to get.
If The Post's policies only work when followed 100
percent, then The Post needs to find a Utopia
where social engineers control society. The rest
of us have to live in a world where compromises
are inevitable.

If The Post's policies don't work in the real
world, then it's the fault of the policies, not of
the world.

DEAN BAKER

Co-Director

Center for Economic and Policy Research

Washington