Crises and Crashes: Argentina, 1825-2002

The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it identifies and categorizes the currency crises suffered by Argentina from 1825 to 2002. Secondly, it looks for regularities in the behaviour of key macroeconomic variables in the neighbourhood of crises by means of graphic analysis, non-parametric and econometric techniques. We found that expansions in public expenditures as well as augments in the debt to GDP ratio and diminishes in the rate of growth of bank deposits contribute to spur the probability of crisis. Unfavourable external conditions, jointly with domestic imbalances, help to explain very deep crises or crashes.