The Argentine Economic Crisis (2001)

Argentina’s $100 billion sovereign default in December 2001 remains the largest government debt restructuring of its era, freezing all bank accounts for 12 months and devaluing the peso by 75% overnight. The resulting chaos led to five presidents in two weeks, food riots across 20 provinces, and 50% of the population falling below the poverty line. This crisis, cheaper in absolute cost than the 2008 U.S. housing crash hitting 4 million foreclosures, involved a 40% GDP contraction over two years, outpacing Dutch Tulip Mania in economic breadth and human toll.