Is Chile a Model for Economic Development

The Chilean economy is usually highly praised as having been successful since the imposition of neo-liberal reforms under the dictatorship of general Pinochet in 1973. However, the four decades that have elapsed include sub-periods with quite different policy approaches and notably diverse outcomes; thus,there is neither one unique model nor only one outcome. The four decades’ growth is moderate, averaging 4.2 per cent per year:it averaged 2.9 per cent (meagre) during the 16 years of dictatorship and a good performance of 5.1 per cent during a quarter-century of democracy, albeit with a vigorous 7.1 per cent in the initial years (1990-98) and a modest 3.9 per cent in the last 15 years. Sometimes, Chile has performed closer to becoming a “model” for development, and at other times the opposite or something in between. Focusing on three episodes (1973–81, 1990–95 and 2008–13), we explore the underlying explanatory variables and some lessons for building “a role model for development”. * Published in A. Calcagno, S. Dullien and J. Priewe (eds.), Development strategies: country studies and international comparisons, University of Applied Sciences (HTW, Berlin) and UNCTAD (Geneva), 2015. Based on material developed in Ffrench-Davis (2010, 2014). Most figures cited come from these publications, based on Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and National Institute of Statistics. I appreciate the support of CIEPLAN and the assistance of Simon Ballesteros and Nicolas Fernandez. Ricardo Ffrench-Davis is Professor of Economics at the University of Chile. He holds a PHD in Economics from the University of Chicago and has been awarded the Chilean National Prize for the Social Sciences and Humanities. He is Former Principal Regional Adviser of ECLAC, 1992–2005, Chief Economist at the Central Bank of Chile, 1964–70 and 1990–92, Co-founder of the Center for Economic Research on Latin America (CIEPLAN), 1975–89, and Chairperson of the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations in 2007–2010. He has published 21 books and about 150 articles on trade and finance, development and Latin American economies and is the author of Reforming Latin America’s Economies after Market Fundamentalism (2006) and Economic Reforms in Chile: from Dictatorship to Democracy, second edition (2010)(09/04/15;8,192w).

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