Argentina's Deregulation Program: A Political Timeline (2021–2025)

When Did Argentina's Deregulation Program Start?

In late 2021, economist Federico Sturzenegger — MIT PhD, former Central Bank president, professor at UCLA, Di Tella, and Harvard Kennedy School — launched an unfunded academic project at the Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires. The goal: map the entire Argentine regulatory corpus and produce ready-to-deploy reform legislation before the next presidential inauguration in December 2023.^[5][1]

The founding team of seven people — Sturzenegger, a constitutional law professor, four undergraduate law students, and a teaching assistant — began cataloguing every existing law and decree, sorting each into "scrap" (total repeal) or "fix" (rewrite via Track Changes).^[5] Read our companion article on the Track Changes methodology →

"No long papers, no meetings, no conceptual memos were allowed — only redlined legal text."^[5]

How the Reform Package Was Built for Patricia Bullrich

By May 2022, Sturzenegger aligned the project with the presidential campaign of Patricia Bullrich, a prominent figure in the center-right PRO party and the Juntos por el Cambio coalition. Sturzenegger had previously served as a National Deputy for PRO (2013–2015) and as Central Bank president under Mauricio Macri (2015–2018), making Bullrich a natural political vehicle for the reform agenda.^[1][2]

Under the Bullrich campaign, the zero-budget academic exercise transformed into a formidable shadow-government operation. The team expanded from 7 to 150 legal experts, economists, and sector specialists, all adhering strictly to the Microsoft Word Track Changes methodology. Over 18 months, they produced an exhaustive compendium of legislative drafts covering energy, telecommunications, agriculture, labor, and dozens of other sectors.^[2][5]

The October 2023 Election and the Pivot to Milei

On October 22, 2023, Argentina's first-round general election upended the plan. Patricia Bullrich finished third, failing to advance to the runoff. The race was set between Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa and insurgent libertarian candidate Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza.^[6]

The political realignment was swift. Former President Macri and Bullrich endorsed Milei for the November 19 runoff. At a pivotal meeting in Acassuso, a Buenos Aires suburb, the terms of the alliance were cemented: Milei had the electoral mandate but lacked a technocratic apparatus; Sturzenegger's 150-person team had a ready-made legislative blueprint but no longer had a viable candidate.^[7][6] Read the full story of how the reform package changed hands →

The Hotel Libertador Handover

The legislative program was physically transferred at the Hotel Libertador in downtown Buenos Aires — Milei's campaign headquarters and residence during the transition. Sturzenegger presented the two massive "piles" of redlined legislation to Milei's inner circle and collaborated with Energy Secretary Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo and administrative law expert Jorge Muratorio to merge the drafts with Milei's campaign pledges.^[4]

Prominent lawyers from Argentina's most prestigious firms — including Bruchou & Funes de Rioja, Martínez de Hoz & Rueda, and Cassagne Abogados — contributed personal advisory input during the final weeks, though all involvement was maintained as informal and individual rather than institutional.^[4]

DNU 70/23: Ten Days from Inauguration to Mega-Decree

Javier Milei took office on December 10, 2023, delivering his inaugural address on the steps outside Congress rather than inside it. Ten days later, on December 20, he addressed the nation via mandatory broadcast to announce DNU 70/23 — a "mega-decree" that instantly deregulated vast sectors of the economy including agriculture, energy, transport, housing, and telecommunications.^[8][2]

In a visual acknowledgment of the decree's true architect, Federico Sturzenegger stood alongside the cabinet during the broadcast despite holding no official government position. Concurrently, the government submitted the Ley Bases (Omnibus Law) to Congress, packaging the remainder of the 150-person team's legislative work.^[4]

Ley Bases: What Congress Passed and What It Cut

The transition from academic draft to law was not without friction. The Peronist opposition, backed by labor unions including the CGT, launched immediate general strikes. In a fragmented Congress where Milei's party held a distinct minority, the team used international market prices as a prioritization tool: if a good or service cost significantly more in Argentina than abroad, that sector was targeted for non-negotiable deregulation.^[2][7]

Despite ferocious pushback, a streamlined version of the Ley Bases passed in late June 2024. However, the concessions were substantial. As Sturzenegger later noted, the approved law contained "only 20%" of what the government ultimately planned to implement, leaving the majority of reforms for future legislative vehicles.^[9][7]

The Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation

On July 5, 2024, President Milei formally created the Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation via Decree 586/2024 and swore in Sturzenegger as Minister at the Casa Rosada. The ministry's mandate encompassed 27 specific functions aimed at economic deregulation, state reform, private employment generation, and reducing public expenditure.^[3][10]

Sturzenegger appointed key personnel from the project's earlier phases: Martín Rossi (PhD Oxford, UdeSA Vice-Rector) as Secretary for the Simplification of the State, and Marcelo Hernández, who had accompanied Bullrich as a technical advisor, as Secretary for Legal and Administrative Coordination.^[10]

Measurable Outcomes: Prices, Employment, and Growth

Against traditional Keynesian expectations, the administration achieved its first fiscal surplus in years while implementing a 30% cut in government spending. The reduction included cuts to public investment, cessation of discretionary provincial transfers, and a reduction of nearly 37,595 public employees in 2024, saving the state over US$4 billion. Despite these contractions, the economy was projected to grow 2–3% of GDP.^[1]

The team established an empirical rule of thumb: wherever a sector was deregulated, prices fell by approximately 30%. The most cited example was the repeal of the restrictive Rent Law (Ley de Alquileres), which triggered a massive supply influx into the housing market and a 40% drop in real rent prices — providing immediate, tangible proof of concept.^[1] See the full breakdown of measurable outcomes →

What Comes Next: Chainsaw 2.0 and Ley Hojarasca

Upon taking office as Minister, Sturzenegger announced the ministry was "not even halfway done." The administration began pursuing "Chainsaw 2.0" — questioning the very existence of certain state functions rather than merely making them efficient. The Ley Hojarasca (Dead Leaves Law), drawn from the original "scrap" pile, aims to repeal dozens of obsolete statutes that hamper economic freedom.^[7][9]

Simultaneously, the ministry introduced mandatory anonymous entrance exams for public administration roles, modeled on professional civil service systems, to end the practice of incoming administrations filling the state with political loyalists — a practice known colloquially as "ñoquis" (phantom employees who appear only on payday).^[1]