New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- Heading into Argentina's legislative elections this month, commentary about [its] economic and financial prospects was growing increasingly pessimistic.

With a significant amount of foreign debt coming due next year, the conventional wisdom was that an exchange-rate-based stabilization programme-letting the currency depreciate by less than the inflation rate to push inflation down-had led to a massively overvalued currency and an external deficit that was bound to precipitate a crisis.

But I thought this consensus was far off the mark.

Breaking from the pattern of past failed economic-stabilization episodes, Argentine President Javier Milei used his 2023 election victory to implement the strongest fiscal-austerity...