> And now assume that the cash in Argentina isn't coming out of mattresses but from criminal activities
Nah, it's very common for people to have savings in cash under a mattress. We had crises before where banks essentially kept people's savings and they never saw their money again. Trust is the banking system is non-existent.
I agree, just nitpicking: Usually is not the bank who keeps the money, but the government. In 2001 the "dollars in the bank" account were exchanged to a government bonds to be paid 10 or 20 years later. I don't remember the details because I had too few and I changed them immediately to pesos. (IIRC I used my pesos to buy stuff, but the transformation dollars-in-bank -> bonds -> pesos -> dollars-in-cash had a 20% or 30% hair cut.)
Ahh. please, maybe you can help clarify my comment further down. (search "20%")
In 2013-15 I never knew exactly how it worked for dollars in the bank or if it was dollars in hand... but a lot of people like government economists in Belgrano and Las Cañitas had a lot of actual $100 dollar bills...
(I lived in Cañitas twice and it's a great place to live if you make USD but I was nowhere near the wealth level of people who spent all day running horses and playing Polo)
Nah, it's very common for people to have savings in cash under a mattress. We had crises before where banks essentially kept people's savings and they never saw their money again. Trust is the banking system is non-existent.