ECONOMICS is not a profession for
the publicity-hungry—except in Argentina. Consider Tomás Bulat, who holds three
degrees in the subject, hosts a weekly television show about it and has written
two best-selling books on it. He boasts over 179,000 followers on Twitter. In
comparison, Ricardo Darín, arguably Argentina’s most famous actor, has only
41,000; Andrés Calamaro, a well-known rock star, has 34,000. At a recent lunch
in the seaside city of Mar del Plata, your correspondent was intrigued to see
waiters and diners fawn over Mr Bulat. A neighbouring table invited him to
share their calamari and a particularly bold waitress hugged him and took his
photograph to show her friends.
Other economists are equally feted.
Martín Lousteau, a former economy minister and current congressman, has 162,000
Twitter followers and is frequently hounded for autographs. Martín Redrado, a
former head of the central bank who now runs a consultancy, has 127,000 Twitter
followers. Both have dated a series of stars and appear almost as frequently in
tabloids as in the financial press. A few years ago, Mr Lousteau married Carla
Peterson, one of Argentina’s top actresses (the couple is pictured).
Victoria Giarrizzo of the University
of Buenos Aires attributes this wealth of celebrity economists to the
volatility of Argentina’s economy. “The Argentine economy is like a sickness.
People have to stay constantly informed to manage their personal finances. As
bearers of answers in times of chaos, economists have amassed a unique amount
of power.”
According to CERX, a consultancy,
Argentines feel that they are at their worst off in ten years. Ms Giarrizzo
muses: “Having economists appearing frequently on television and in the
newspapers is not a good sign. That means things aren’t going so well.”
