Dollarization’s Architects Split as Milei Pivots, Venezuela Formalizes, and Ecuador’s Data Settles the Debate

High inflation across Latin America has returned dollarization proposals to the center of political debate. Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, is presently Special Adviser on Economic, Monetary, and Energy Affairs in the office of Congressman Antonio Ecarri at the National Assembly of Venezuela. Ecarri’s legislative agenda in Caracas focuses on formalizing Venezuela’s de facto dollarization while utilizing foreign energy investments as foreign exchange backing to stabilize the bolívar alongside the U.S. dollar. Hanke also serves as a Senior Contributing Columnist at Fortune. From 1995 to 1996, he was an economic advisor to President Rafael Caldera. His latest book, co-edited with Francisco Zalles, is *La Dolarización en Ecuador: El Triunfo del Orden Espontáneo* (2026). Ecuador’s quarter-century experiment with formal dollarization maintained single-digit annual inflation, hovering around 1.5% to 2.2% through political shocks and fiscal deficits. That record is the empirical baseline currency reformers use across Latin America. Hanke’s academic and advisory roles place him in both Baltimore and Caracas. While Hanke scrutinizes the Ecuadorian model from those vantage points, in Buenos Aires, Emilio Ocampo—an Argentine economist and historian and professor at Universidad del CEMA (UCEMA)—has authored two recent books, *Dolarización: Una solución para la Argentina* (2022) and *Argentina dolarizada* (2024). Javier Milei’s administration initially appointed Ocampo to lead the Central Bank to execute dollarization. Structural reserve shortages and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund forced a pivot toward a multi-currency competition regime rather than immediate full dollarization. Ocampo’s technical plans for reserve requirements remain a subject of policy discussion in Buenos Aires. The 1995–1996 advisory role under President Rafael Caldera anchors Hanke’s historical legacy in South America’s 30-year recurring debate over currency reform. Congressman Ecarri’s office at the National Assembly of Venezuela continues to advance legislation on foreign energy investments as backing for the bolívar.