Javier Milei

Javier Gerardo Milei (born 22 October 1970) is an Argentine economist and politician who became president of Argentina in 2023. Before that, he served as a national deputy from 2021 to 2023. Milei was born in Buenos Aires and earned a degree in economics from the University of Belgrano. He completed postgraduate coursework at the Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social and Torcuato di Tella University but did not finish a degree from either. He gained fame in the 2010s as a television commentator, sharply criticizing Argentina’s political establishment, and is known for his flashy style, strong media presence, and catchphrase "¡Viva la libertad, carajo!"

Milei was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2021 legislative election, representing Buenos Aires City for La Libertad Avanza. As a deputy, he mostly voted without engaging in other legislative work, focusing instead on attacking the political elite and high government spending. He promised not to raise taxes and gave away his deputy salary through a monthly raffle. In the 2023 presidential election, he defeated incumbent economy minister Sergio Massa in a runoff, blaming the ideological dominance of Kirchnerism for Argentina’s monetary crisis.

As president, Milei has aimed to stabilize the economy through spending cuts, deregulation, and monetary restraint after years of mismanagement. According to INDEC, inflation dropped sharply, the government recorded its first fiscal surplus since 2008, and poverty fell to an estimated 31.6% in early 2025, while wages partly recovered despite uneven sector performance. Economic growth resumed modestly, but rising living and healthcare costs and reduced consumption kept public support under strain. His reforms remain politically risky but were bolstered when La Libertad Avanza won a plurality in the 2025 legislative elections.

Milei is described as a right-wing populist and libertarian who supports laissez-faire economics, aligning with minarchist and anarcho-capitalist ideas. He advocates a complete overhaul of fiscal and structural policies. On social issues, he opposes abortion and euthanasia, supports civilian gun ownership, and backs "freedom of choice" on drug policy. In foreign affairs, he favors closer ties with Israel and the United States (especially under the Trump administration) and wants to move Argentina away from BRICS.

**Early life and education**

Milei was born on 22 October 1970 in Palermo, Buenos Aires, to Norberto Milei and Alicia Lucich. He grew up in Villa Devoto and later moved to Sáenz Peña. His mother was a homemaker; his father drove a bus before becoming a successful businessman. Milei is of paternal Italian descent: his grandfather arrived from Rossano, Calabria, in 1926, and his father’s maternal great-grandparents came from Francavilla in Sinni and Pignola in Basilicata. On his mother’s side, he has Croatian and Italian ancestry. Her paternal grandparents and great-grandparents came from Jelsa on the island of Hvar and settled in San Lorenzo, Santa Fe. Her maternal grandparents came from San Severino in Marche, Italy, and also settled in San Lorenzo. In 2024, Milei revealed that his grandfather—a major influence—learned shortly before his death that he was of Jewish matrilineal descent, and that his grandfather’s maternal grandfather may have been a rabbi.

Milei says he was abused as a child and, after moving out as a young adult, did not speak to his parents for ten years. By 2018, he had cut off contact entirely and considered them dead. He believes the abuse helped him handle adversity. His maternal grandmother and younger sister, Karina—whom he calls "the boss"—supported him. He attended Catholic schools, including Cardenal Copello secondary school, where classmates nicknamed him el Loco ("the Madman") for his outbursts and passionate speeches. In his late teens and early adulthood, he sang in the cover band Everest, which mostly played Rolling Stones songs. He also played goalkeeper for Chacarita Juniors football until 1989, when hyperinflation hit Argentina, prompting him to pursue economics.

Argentina’s collapsing exchange rate sparked Milei’s interest in economics in the early 1980s. He studied introductory economics and supply-and-demand theory, which seemed to contradict the hyperinflation he saw—people "throwing themselves on top of the merchandise" in supermarkets—and he began studying economics in depth. For 15 years, he worked as chief economist and financial adviser to Eduardo Eurnekian at Corporación América. Milei has written several books, including *El camino del libertario*. He has a strong television presence; a 2018 ranking by Ejes listed him as the most interviewed economist on TV, with 235 interviews totaling 193,347 seconds. He also hosted a radio show, *Demoliendo mitos*, featuring regular appearances by Alberdian and right-wing libertarian figures such as economist Gustavo Lazzari, lawyer Pablo Torres Barthe, and political scientist María Zaldívar.