L'Etat, c'est la grande fiction à travers laquelle tout le monde s'efforce de vivre aux dépens de tout le monde. Frédéric Bastiat

samedi 23 juin 2007

Contrôle des prix

The Economist, sur les effets pervers du contrôle des prix de l'énergie en Argentine:

"Analysts have long predicted that the consequences of the government's populist energy policies would begin to be felt this winter. During Argentina's 2001-02 economic crisis, the government forcibly converted all energy tariffs from dollars to pesos, representing a cut of nearly two-thirds in their real value. Since then, only a handful of modest increases have been permitted, resulting in energy prices that are some 40% lower than those in neighbouring countries.
This has caused private-sector energy investment to grind to a virtual halt, while the economy has grown by nearly 9% a year. As a result, Argentina's proven gas reserves have fallen from more than 20 years' worth of production in the mid-1990s to less than ten years' worth today, and it can no longer produce enough electricity to cover exceptional demand."