The Dollar
How the US Dollar Became a Popular Currency in Argentina
by Ariel Wilkis and Mariana Luzzi
Translated by Wendy Gosselin
Published by: University of New Mexico Press
How did the dollar come to play such a leading role in Argentina's national existence? How and why did this global currency become a local currency on the other end of the Western hemisphere? Through the reconstruction of the social and cultural history of the US dollar in Argentina, Luzzi and Wilkis provide original insight into this sidebar of the dollar's history, showing how it became a "local" currency even outside its country of origin.
Ariel Wilkis is a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research and a full professor in and the dean of the Interdisciplinary School of Advanced Social Studies at San Martin University, Argentina. He has published several books and articles about the sociology and anthropology of money, including The Moral Power of Money: Morality and Economy in the Life of the Poor.
Mariana Luzzi is a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research and an associate professor of sociology in the Interdisciplinary School of Advanced Social Studies at San Martin University, Argentina. She has published several books and articles on the sociology of money.
"Argentina is the country with the highest amount of dollar bills per capita outside the United States. Luzzi and Wilkis take the reader into a thrilling examination of how Argentines have experienced the US dollar over almost a century. In the journey, they show how economy, culture, and politics are always intertwined."--Daniel Fridman, author of Freedom from Work: Embracing Financial Self-Help in the United States and Argentina
"In The Dollar, two brilliant analysts team up to offer us a transformative analysis of how money works. Investigating the puzzling local grip of the US dollar in Argentina with fascinating interviews and documentary sources, Luzzi and Wilkis identify compelling historical and social answers. The book marks a new agenda for experts in the analysis of money."--Viviana A. Zelizer, author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy