Pinochet's Economists The Chicago School of Economics in Chile

This book tells the extraordinary story of the Pinochet regime's economists, known as the Chicago Boys. It explores the roots of their ideas and their sense of mission, following their training as economists at the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. After their return to Chile, the Chicago Boys took advantage of the opportunity afforded them by the 1973 military coup to launch the first radical free market strategy implemented in a developing country. The ideological strength of their mission and the military authoritarianism of General Pinochet combined to transform an economy that, following the return to democracy, has stabilized and is seen as a model for Latin America. This book, written by a political scientist, examines the neo-liberal economists and their perspective on the market. It also narrates the history of the transfer of ideas from the industrialized world to a developing country, which will be of particular interest to economists.

Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Authoritarians Without a Project; 2. Ideological Transfer; 3. The Chicago School of Economics; 4. The Actors of ideological Transfer; 5. The Contracts between ICA, Chicago and the Universidad Católica; 6. The Chile Project and the Birth of the Chicago Boys; 7. The Implantation of the Chicago School in Chile; 8. The Export of the Chicago Tradition; 9. In Search of Politics; 10 The Elusive Hegemony; 11. Under the Unidad Popular; Conclusions.

This book tells the extraordinary story of the Pinochet regime's economists, known as the Chicago Boys. Following their training as economists at the University of Chicago, they took advantage of Pinochet's 1973 military coup to launch the first radical free market strategy implemented in a developing country.