Spring 2013 | Emerging Markets Journal | Page 7

THE BLUEBACK
Junior Molly Zweig
describes the challenges of
living with the Argentine
financial system

MOLLY ZWEIG / SOURCE

condition and will be immediately

sold to Argentines looking to
stabilize their financial futures.
If I change my money using
another service where I do not have
to present actual U.S. bills, then I
get roughly 8.5 pesos to the dollar.
When I do change money, I end up
leaving with an enormous stack of
billsArgentinas largest bill is worth
100 pesos, which ends up being
$12.50. Bills start at 2 pesos (25),
and then there are 5, 10, 20 and 50
pesos, as well as coins. Argentines
also have a very strong aversion
to giving change. When I buy
anything with a 100-peso bill, I am
treated as if I paid with a gold brick.
After a few months of navigating
the Argentine financial system, I have
discovered that the most consistent
characteristic is inconsistency. I
always wonder if my bills will be
accepted, or if they are too big or
too small, too dirty or too torn. The
economic instabilitythe instability
that makes my dollars worth more
or less every dayis normal for
Argentina, a culture accustomed
to finding ways to save money in
practical ways. For me, the most
inconsistent aspect of this whole
system is how I feel about it. I know
that selling my dollars on the Dolar
Blue is contributing to
the financial issues in
CURRENCY EXCHANGE
For a hundred dollars, you would get:
Argentina. As I begin to
feel more at home in this
Government
Dolar Blue
new culture, I wonder
585 pesos 988 pesos
if my benefit is really
worth the social costs.

tudying abroad presents a

variety of challenges, but one
of the biggest aspects of my
life in Buenos Aires involves
dealing with money. In Argentina,
years of financial instability and
continuously-changing economic
policies have made the people
extremely cautious about money;
many hold their savings in dollars,
a more stable currency than the
Argentine peso. One of my first
questions when I arrived was how
much a peso is worth. The official
government rate is (at time of writing)
5.85 pesos to the dollarmeaning
that if I went to a currency exchange
store or an ATM, I would receive
this rate. On the street, however,
it is a completely different story.
The
Argentine
government
understands that its currency is not
particularly valuable, so it recently
outlawed
changing
Argentine
pesos into other currencies.
However, this only created a strong
underground market, called the
Dolar Blue, where exchange
rates differ significantly from the
ones the government sets. For
example, with a $100 bill, I could
receive 9.88 pesos to the dollar, a
notable increase over the official
rate. The bills must be in good

About Us

The Emerging Markets Journal

(EMJ) is a publication of the Emerging
Markets Club (EMC) in the Kelley
School of Business. The goal of our club
and journal is to develop students into
successful, global professionals, and in
order to do so, we publish the EMJ once
a semester to facilitate the discussion
of current political, social, economic,
and cultural developments all around
the world. Though it is associated with
the Kelley School of Business, the EMJ
strives to focus on a variety of topics,
and is open to anybody with an interest
in world affairs, business, or journalism.

Contact Us

Email: Emerjournal@gmail.com
EMC Website: kelley.iu.edu/emerge/

Editorial Staff
Editor-in-Chief:

Henry Zhu

Content Editors:




Design Editors:

Michelle Xie
Christopher Dean
Connor Reed
Devang Singhania
Nimisha Kumar
Vivian Chen
Liane Yue