Neoliberalism In Chile Case Study

In Chile, like Argentina, the country used ISI before the military take over in 1973. The election of Allende in 1970 began a shift towards political and economic socialism in the country without the support of the people. Some of his reforms concerned land distribution, the nationalization of industry and the expansion of social welfare. The Pinochet dictatorship did not implement neoliberal reforms until the late 1970s even as the country was experiencing hardship due to a decrease in oil prices. Neoliberalism began between 1978-79 under the influence of the Chicago Boys. As with the previous countries the neoliberal reforms resulted in a reduction of tariffs and a reduction of state and state industries. It made imports less expensive which hurt domestic production and increased privatization of industry. Moreover, these reforms enacted an increase in inequality through high …show more content…
Moreover, Pinochet reversed the land reform that Allende had instituted which further disadvantaged low-income workers. During this time Pinochet limited formal workers’ rights and organizing power which led to people living off very low wages and being unable to fight for better treatment (Schurman 2). This increased inequality in the country despite the growing economy. Despite the steady inequality in Chile neoliberalism continues to be the economic framework in Chile today (Vanden and Prevost 409- 410). The final country case is the economic changes in Venezuela. Like Mexico, Venezuela 's economic trajectory begins with ISI based on oil deposits and then is forced into neoliberal reforms after the oil crisis. The economy depended on the oil rents in order to