EBOOK
The Chile Project
The Story Of The Chicago Boys And The Downfall Of Neoliberalism
Sebastian Edwards(0)
About
How Chile became home to the world's most radical free-market experiment-and what its downfall suggests about the fate of neoliberalism around the globe
In The Chile Project, Sebastian Edwards tells the remarkable story of how the neoliberal economic model-installed in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship and deepened during three decades of left-of-center governments-came to an end in 2021, when Gabriel Boric, a young former student activist, was elected president, vowing that "If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave." More than a story about one Latin American country, The Chile Project is a behind-the-scenes history of the spread and consequences of the free-market thinking that dominated economic policymaking around the world in the second half of the twentieth century-but is now on the retreat.
In 1955, the U.S. State Department launched the "Chile Project" to train Chilean economists at the University of Chicago, home of the libertarian Milton Friedman. After General Augusto Pinochet overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile's "Chicago Boys" implemented the purest neoliberal model in the world for the next seventeen years, undertaking a sweeping package of privatization and deregulation, creating a modern capitalist economy, and sparking talk of a "Chilean miracle." But under the veneer of success, a profound dissatisfaction with the vast inequalities caused by neoliberalism was growing. In 2019, protests erupted throughout the country, and in 2022 Boric began his presidency with a clear mandate: to end neoliberalismo.
In telling the fascinating story of the Chicago Boys and Chile's free-market revolution, The Chile Project provides an important new perspective on the history of neoliberalism and its global decline today. Sebastian Edwards is the Henry Ford II Distinguished Professor of International Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a former chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. His many books include American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold (Princeton) and Crisis and Reform in Latin America: From Despair to Hope. "The Chile Project is wonderful. I haven't enjoyed-or learned so much-from a book in a long time. It does a wonderful job of analyzing something many of us are thinking about, the flaws in mainstream economics, and doing it in the specific context of Chile, and with deep personal knowledge of both the Chicago and Chilean economists who were involved in the story."-Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize–winning economist and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Deaths of Despair
"The Chile Project is a gripping account by a fine writer and economist of how economists and their ideas have influenced, or tried to influence, political and economic arrangements in Chile starting in the early 1970s, continuing until today. Tensions between liberalism and authority, and between equalities and efficiencies, run through the story. I couldn't put this book down. The story fascinates and bothers me."-Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel Prize–winning economist
"The Chile Project is an eye-opener. I lived through the Chicago end of the story, but Sebastian Edwards illuminates the whole episode. I knew all the actors but didn't know the play until I read the book. It is an excellent book."-James J. Heckman, Nobel Prize–winning economist
"A fascinating account of how the 'Chicago Boys' came to dominate Chilean policymaking under Pinochet and beyond. Edwards doesn't hide his own sympathies for their ideas. But even critics of Chicago-style economics will benefit from this finely detailed story about how once-outlandish ideas, scorned by politicians and businesspeople alike, became the established norm."-Dani Rodrik, author of Straight Talk on Trade
"In this well-written, deeply researched,
In The Chile Project, Sebastian Edwards tells the remarkable story of how the neoliberal economic model-installed in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship and deepened during three decades of left-of-center governments-came to an end in 2021, when Gabriel Boric, a young former student activist, was elected president, vowing that "If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave." More than a story about one Latin American country, The Chile Project is a behind-the-scenes history of the spread and consequences of the free-market thinking that dominated economic policymaking around the world in the second half of the twentieth century-but is now on the retreat.
In 1955, the U.S. State Department launched the "Chile Project" to train Chilean economists at the University of Chicago, home of the libertarian Milton Friedman. After General Augusto Pinochet overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile's "Chicago Boys" implemented the purest neoliberal model in the world for the next seventeen years, undertaking a sweeping package of privatization and deregulation, creating a modern capitalist economy, and sparking talk of a "Chilean miracle." But under the veneer of success, a profound dissatisfaction with the vast inequalities caused by neoliberalism was growing. In 2019, protests erupted throughout the country, and in 2022 Boric began his presidency with a clear mandate: to end neoliberalismo.
In telling the fascinating story of the Chicago Boys and Chile's free-market revolution, The Chile Project provides an important new perspective on the history of neoliberalism and its global decline today. Sebastian Edwards is the Henry Ford II Distinguished Professor of International Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a former chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. His many books include American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold (Princeton) and Crisis and Reform in Latin America: From Despair to Hope. "The Chile Project is wonderful. I haven't enjoyed-or learned so much-from a book in a long time. It does a wonderful job of analyzing something many of us are thinking about, the flaws in mainstream economics, and doing it in the specific context of Chile, and with deep personal knowledge of both the Chicago and Chilean economists who were involved in the story."-Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize–winning economist and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Deaths of Despair
"The Chile Project is a gripping account by a fine writer and economist of how economists and their ideas have influenced, or tried to influence, political and economic arrangements in Chile starting in the early 1970s, continuing until today. Tensions between liberalism and authority, and between equalities and efficiencies, run through the story. I couldn't put this book down. The story fascinates and bothers me."-Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel Prize–winning economist
"The Chile Project is an eye-opener. I lived through the Chicago end of the story, but Sebastian Edwards illuminates the whole episode. I knew all the actors but didn't know the play until I read the book. It is an excellent book."-James J. Heckman, Nobel Prize–winning economist
"A fascinating account of how the 'Chicago Boys' came to dominate Chilean policymaking under Pinochet and beyond. Edwards doesn't hide his own sympathies for their ideas. But even critics of Chicago-style economics will benefit from this finely detailed story about how once-outlandish ideas, scorned by politicians and businesspeople alike, became the established norm."-Dani Rodrik, author of Straight Talk on Trade
"In this well-written, deeply researched,