The Political Economy of Chile's Fast Economic Growth: An Olsonian Interpretation

A conceptual framework inspired by MancurOlson's contributions to political economyis used to explain Chile's recent economicand political performance, with particularemphasis on the `hidden hand', politicalstability, rent-seeking, policy-makingquality, institutions, cultural attitudesand cultural change, fortunate historicalaccidents, critical masses, and virtuouscircles and other `positive loops'. Theanalysis combines very long-term withshort-term perspectives, examining the warof Arauco, Basque immigration, open economypolicies, families' educational investment,economic technocrats, female labour forceparticipation, managerial perceptions oflabour, and (other) old myth shattering. Some future trends are also predicted.