Why is it so hard to make exchange controls work in Argentina?
. . . the answer seems to be that they are not here felt to be
morally justified.

Review of the River Plate, April 1964

The President who devalues is devalued.

José López Portillo, 1982

While the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s originated in large,
systemic problems, it did not break out in the same way in each
country. In particular, three of the largest debtors ( Argentina, Mexico,
and Venezuela) had a lot of capital flight in the critical 1980-82
period, while three others ( Brazil, Chile, and Colombia) had much
less. In this chapter I try to explain the difference.

Although in most countries capital flight worsened after 1980-82,
the episode deserves study for two reasons: first, because by rapidly
draining central bank reserves, especially in Mexico in 1982, capital
outflows served as midwife to the regional debt crisis; and second,
because the flight took place as foreigners were still sending funds to
Latin America rather freely, as they have done in the 1990s and will
surely do in the future. In turn, because many economic analyses have
linked the capital flight of this period to exchange policies, as I noted

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