February 1, 2001
Critics say Argentina's problems are due to its fixed exchange rate and the economic effect of pegging the peso to the dollar. Steve H. Hanke, professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University, chairman of the Friedburg Mercantile Group, Inc. in New York and the leading theoretician on dollarization, firmly believes that dollarizing is the best cure for Latin American economies. But without complementary - and somewhat radical - fiscal and banking reforms, Hanke says countries will fail to get a bang for their buck.