Argentine President Carlos Menem has been forced to acknowledge that it would not be advisable to test constitutional limitations and run for a third consecutive term.

Freer economic policy has demonstrated to many Argentines the advantages of modernity; the country has had a sound currency and low rates of inflation, a working telephone system, and long-term home mortgages.

Argentina will inevitably have to embrace a much fuller program of free-market reform than it has been willing to attempt thus far.

Argentina needs a fuller and more candid discussion of the economic alternatives than her political class has so far been willing to undertake.

Thanks to the strong hand of Senator Eduardo Duhalde, who took over at the end of 2000 from Fernando de la Rúa, Menem's successor, civic order was restored in Argentina.

Choices Argentine voterswill make later this month are as much about the style of their leaders and the texture of their political life as the content or direction of policy.

Withthe departure of Argentineminister of economy Domingo Cavalloan entirely new era began in that country's politics.

To prevent a run from weak to strong banks in Argentina, the government should underwrite a guarantee of deposits until the sector is recapitalised.