Nikolai sent me this: "The "expert" cited was actually a former NYT reporter. From economist Dean Baker:
"The piece concludes with a critical comment from Daniel Altman, who is identified as "an expert on Argentina’s economy at the Stern School of Business at New York University." Altman is probably better known as a former New York Times business reporter, who did not specialize in coverage of Latin America.
...The piece seems to be describing the operations of a highly successful state-owned oil company which appears to be gaining ground at the expense of the privately-owned company in Argentina. This would be exactly the sort of argument that someone would make to justify the nationalization of YPF, although it is not clear if this is the conclusion the reader is expected to reach.
The reality is that there are examples of successful state-run companies, as this article shows. There are also many examples of poorly run government enterprises, just as there are many examples of poorly run private companies."
You should really follow this guy's blog, "Beat the Press." He's good - both at what he does and in the moral sense. He constantly takes the NYT and Washington Post to task for economic misreporting and analyzes what he believes is going on. Plus he makes fun of Thomas Friedman (who cannot?)."
...The piece seems to be describing the operations of a highly successful state-owned oil company which appears to be gaining ground at the expense of the privately-owned company in Argentina. This would be exactly the sort of argument that someone would make to justify the nationalization of YPF, although it is not clear if this is the conclusion the reader is expected to reach.
The reality is that there are examples of successful state-run companies, as this article shows. There are also many examples of poorly run government enterprises, just as there are many examples of poorly run private companies."
You should really follow this guy's blog, "Beat the Press." He's good - both at what he does and in the moral sense. He constantly takes the NYT and Washington Post to task for economic misreporting and analyzes what he believes is going on. Plus he makes fun of Thomas Friedman (who cannot?)."
