Who Designed Argentina's Deregulation Program? The People Behind the Chainsaw

Federico Sturzenegger: The Primary Architect

Federico Sturzenegger holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His academic career spans teaching positions at UCLA, the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he has lectured on deregulation and institutional economics. He also holds an Honoris Causa professorship from HEC Paris. As a professor at the Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires, he launched the academic project that would become Argentina's deregulation blueprint.^[1][5][8]

Before entering the deregulation sphere, Sturzenegger served as President of the Central Bank of Argentina from 2015 to 2018 under President Mauricio Macri, and as a National Deputy for the PRO party representing Buenos Aires from 2013 to 2015. In July 2024, President Milei appointed him as the inaugural Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation — formalizing a role he had played informally since the transition period.^[3][8]

The Core UdeSA Team

The deregulation project began in late 2021 at the Universidad de San Andrés with virtually no resources. The founding team of seven consisted of Sturzenegger himself, a professor of constitutional law, four undergraduate law students, and Sturzenegger's teaching assistant from a Principles of Economics course. The project's budget was zero.^[5]

Despite the profound lack of funding, this small cohort began the arduous process of reviewing the entire legal corpus of the Argentine Republic — systematically categorizing every existing law and executive decree as acceptable, to-be-repealed, or requiring modification. The early days involved the four law students cataloging historical regulations, some dating back decades, identifying laws that were functionally obsolete but remained on the books.^[1][5]

Key Ministry Personnel

When the Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation was formally created on July 5, 2024 via Decree 586/2024, Sturzenegger assembled a specialized team of technocrats, many of whom had been instrumental in the earlier UdeSA and Bullrich campaign phases of the project.^[3][9]

The ministry was granted 27 specific functions aimed at economic deregulation, state reform, generating private employment, ending political privileges, and adapting the state to radically reduced public expenditure. Its key personnel reflect the academic-to-government pipeline that defined the entire project.^[3][7]

Intellectual Foundations

The theoretical framework drew heavily on the institutional economics of Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, diagnosing Argentina as a textbook case of extractive economic institutions maintained by entrenched, rent-seeking elites. The team also applied Mancur Olson's logic of collective action to explain why regulatory burdens accumulated unchecked — regulations protected concentrated interests while their costs were dispersed across the general public.^[1]

The team conceptualized two approaches to reform: Friedrich Hayek's "pruning shears" (careful, incremental adjustment suited to healthy institutions) and Murray Rothbard's "chainsaw" (a structural legal shock required when extractive institutions have entirely overrun the system). They also drew on George Akerlof's theories of information asymmetry, concluding that even imperfect markets function better unregulated than under a corrupt bureaucratic apparatus. The approximately six-month academic phase before political alignment established this diagnostic framework.^[1]

From University to Government

The path from university project to government ministry followed four distinct phases: the UdeSA academic genesis in late 2021, alignment with Patricia Bullrich's presidential campaign in May 2022, the dramatic transfer to Javier Milei after Bullrich's first-round elimination in October 2023, and the formal creation of the Ministry of Deregulation in July 2024.^[1][3][5]

During the transition, Sturzenegger collaborated extensively with Energy Secretary Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo and administrative law expert Jorge Muratorio at the Hotel Libertador — Milei's campaign headquarters. This trio fused two years of Track Changes drafting with Milei's specific campaign pledges. By the time Sturzenegger was formally appointed minister, the team had expanded from 7 founding members to a network of roughly a hundred legal experts, economists, and sector specialists.^[4][7] Read our companion article on the deregulation timeline →

Private Law Firm Contributors

The final adaptation of the legislative package before Milei's inauguration drew on informal advisory input from prominent lawyers at Argentina's most prestigious law firms — including Bruchou & Funes de Rioja, Martínez de Hoz & Rueda, and Cassagne Abogados. These contributions were strictly personal rather than institutional endorsements.^[4]

As one lawyer from the business elite noted to the Buenos Aires Times: "No law firm collaborated. It's true that there were calls to particular lawyers from the most important law firms, but all recommendations were personal." The President's Office maintained that they had no information regarding specific firm involvement — shielding the private sector from political association while benefiting from their legal expertise.^[4] Read our companion article on the political transfer →