The Chicago Boys (c. 1970s) were a group of about 25 Chilean economists working under the Augusto Pinochet administration to create a free market economy and decentralize economic and ultimately political power. The Chicago Boys received their basic economic education from the School of Economy in Universidad Católica. In 1956 that School had signed a three-year program of intensive collaboration with the Economics Faculty of the University of Chicago (the "Chile Project"). It entailed Chicago professors going to teach in Santiago, the donation of a full modern library, scholarships to the best Chilean students, etc. Under the leadership of Dean Theodore Shultz of the University of Chicago, this program was renewed three times and eventually totally transformed the teaching of economics in Chile. That is why the graduates of the School of Economics of "La Catolica" (the Catholic University) are called "the Chicago Boys". Only some of them went later for postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago, where they enrolled in Arnold Harberger's Latin American Finance Workshop and Milton Friedman's Money and Banking Workshop, but several others went to other top level universities in the USA like Harvard University and Columbia University. The whole group was heavily influenced by the Chicago School of Economics, and especially by the writings and public policy proposals of Milton Friedman. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte[1] (November 25, 1915–December 10, 2006) was a general who was military dictator and President of Chile from 1973 to 1990. ... ... The University of Chicago is an elite private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... Economist responsible for Harbergers Triangle, used largely in welfare economics. ... Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was a prominent American economist and public intellectual. ... The Chicago School of Economics is a school of thought in economics; it refers to the style of economics practiced at and disseminated from the University of Chicago after 1946. ...

The key Chicago Boys were:

• Jorge Cauas (Minister of Finance, 1975 - 1977)
• Sergio de Castro (Minister of Finance, 1977 - 1982)
• Pablo Baraona (Minister of Economy, 1976 - 1979)
• José Piñera (Minister of Labor and Pensions, 1978-1980, Minister of Mining, 1980-1981)
• Hernán Büchi (Minister of Finance 1985 - 1989) (although he did his Ph.D. in Columbia University).
• Alvaro Bardón (Minister of Economy, 1982-1983)
• Juan Carlos Méndez (Budget Director, 1975-1981)
• Emilio Sanfuentes (Economic advisor to Central Bank)
• Sergio de la Cuadra (Minister of Finance, 1982-1983)
• Miguel Kast (Minister of Planning, 1978-1980)
• Martín Costabal (Budget Director, 1987-1989)
• Juan Ariztía Matte (Private Pension System Superintendent 1980-1990)
• Maria Teresa Infante (Minister of Labor 1988-1990)

José Piñera (born October 6, 1948, in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean free market economist and politician, best known as the architect of Chiles radical pension reform of 1980. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ... Miguel Kast is a Chilean economist of the Chicago Boys group. ...

Chicago Boys Elsewhere in Latin America

Although the largest and most influential group of so called Chicago Boys was Chilean in origin, there are many Latin American graduates from the University of Chicago around the same period. These economists continued to shape the economies of their respective countries, and include people like Mexico's Francisco Gil Diaz, Fernando Sanchez Ugarte, Carlos Isoard y Viesca, Argentina's Ricardo Lopez Murphy, and many more from countries like Brazil, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. Francisco Gil Díaz (b. ... Lopez Murphy Ricardo Hipólito López Murphy (born August 10, 1951) is an Argentine economist-politician born in Adrogue, Province of Buenos Aires. ...

It has been stated by at least one former academic of the University that the main advantage Chile had when compared to other Latin American countries was not the presence of the Chicago Boys, but rather the large number of them and the coherence of their policy making.

References

• Valdés, Juan Gabriel (1995), Pinochet's Economists: The Chicago School of Economics in Chile, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45146-9

See also

• Miracle of Chile
• Berkeley Mafia

‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... The Berkeley Mafia was a U.S.-educated group of Indonesian economists who pulled their nation out of crisis in the mid-1960s. ...

External links

• Video clip - Chicago Boys and Pinochet, on PBS
• Is Chile a Neoliberal Success? analysis of Chicago Boys' policies in Dollars & Sense magazine
• Audio clip - 'Chicago Boys' Leave Lasting Legacy on Chile's Economy, National Public Radio