Is the Chilean “Miracle” Sustainable? *

Abstract

In recent years, Chile has arrived at a significant consensus regarding a number of subjects central to the country's development; and, notwithstanding certain important differences between the Concertacion government and its opposition, there is considerable agreement regarding certain basic aspects of economic growth which will doubtless continue to be maintained in the mid-to-long run. The official policy, as laid down by the government, is that Chile's economy is now oriented toward achieving growth with social equity, and that the way to reach those goals is by strengthening the country's insertion into the international economy, since the world is now moving towards a globalization which no country can afford to ignore. Given this new reality, the Chilean economy is also moving to take part in this process in a strategy that has proved fairly successful in recent years.