What do you think?
Rate this book


330 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
The Chilean example demonstrates the possibility of development, even in this region. When dictator Augusto Pinochet's continuation of the old policy of inflation and central control sent the economy into free fall, he began listening to market economists instead. Unlike other authoritarian regimes in the region, Chile replaced its authoritarian economic policy with liberalisation and free trade about 1975. Tremendous growth ensued, with real earnings more than doubling by 1995, at the same time as infant mortality fell from 6% to just over 1%, and average life expectancy rose from 64 to 73 years. Chileans today have almost a southern European standard of living, in stark contrast to their neighbours. Most important of all, the bloodstained dictatorship has been peacefully superseded by a stable democratic regime -- just as the liberal advisers advocated and prophesied.