Chile: the political economy of development and democracy in the 1990s

Abstract

Many former members of the democratic opposition to the Augusto Pinochet regime (1973-1990) now find it difficult to separate its largely successful free-market economic model from the repressive political climate under which the model was implemented. Can the economic successes of the free-market model - based on policies recommended and implemented by the so-called Chicago boys for the former military government - survive after the restoration of civil, political and human rights in full? David E. Hojman addresses this key question and assesses the changes of economic - and political - success for the current administration of Patricio Aylwin and for future democratic governments. Chile: The Political Economy of Development and Democracy in the is a wide-ranging study, drawing from the extensive scholarly literature and data already published on Chile, as well as from the author's own research. Hojman discusses Chile's economy in the late 1980s and early 1990s by focusing on specific issues concerning the nation's agriculture, education, health care, housing, labour markets, income distribution, the role of the state, copper, inflation, investment and debt policies, and on the particular situations regarding the status of women, the poor and the middle sectors. At the beginning of the 1990s, he argues, Chilean society is facing a turning point, at which a unique opportunity for successful economic development under conditions of political democracy has arisen. Will Chile be able to succeed in achieving fast, enduring economic growth, together with domestic price and external sector stability and still continue to improve income and wealth redistribution, and preserve and enhance political democracy?