A Study On The Chicago Boys Of Chile (1953-1982)

The Chicago Boys was a typical case of the United States using ideological output tointerfere the path of economic development of the developing countries during the Cold War, andthey led the neoliberal reform of the Pinochet’s authoritarian military government. By studyingon this case, this dissertation can delve into some important theoretical issues, such as thecultural output strategy of the US government, the neoliberal reform and the technocracy of thebureaucratic-authoritarianism. However, domestic and foreign academic circles don’t payenough attention to the Chicago Boys, and systematic comprehensive researches are seldomfound. Based on the historical data, this study sorts out the complete history of the activities ofthe Chicago Boys, and gives them objective, comprehensive and reasonable evaluation.The Chicago Boys of Chile came from the Chile Project which was a foreign assistanceproject for Chile initiated by USAID. The Creation of the Chile Project was not only a product ofthe U.S. government using ideological output to fight against the communism during the ColdWar, but also a result of Chile seeking for foreign aid which suffered from not solving theproblem of inflation in the early1950s. During1956-1964, different batches of the Chicago Boyshad accepted the theory of the Chicago School in the University of Chicago and established amission to change the Chilean economy under the American professors’ special care. TheChicago Boys came back to Chile in succession, they firstly participated in the teaching activitiesof the Catholic University of Chile, and used what they had learned at Chicago to successfullyreform the Faculty of Economics of the University. Then, in partnership with the most powerfulChilean business group--the Edwards group which was of the highest degree ofinternationalization, especially in close contact with the US government, the Chicago Boysfinally participated in the action which determined the the development direction of the Chileaneconomy, and prepared a new economic plan for the following military government. GeneralPinochet established a military dictatorship in Chile after the coup d’état of1973, and he used theChicago Boys who had professional talent to manage the economy. In April1975, the ChicagoBoys initiated the neoliberal reform in Chile. The reform followed the doctrine of the ChicagoSchool strictly--opposing to state intervention in the economy and establishing a completely freemarket mechanism. It gained a lot, but paid out heavy social cost.The Chicago Boys was an important case of the cultural output strategy of the US government during the cold war, and the US had achieved the expectation to output the ideologyto the developing countries and interfere their development. However, the success of thisstrategy was a result of many factors, especially was related to the political and economicsituation in Chile at that time. The Chicago Boys led the neoliberal reform which has introducedthe market mechanism and the opening of the economy to Chile, and they had started a newstage of the modernization of Chile. Therefore, their contribution to the modernization of Chileshould be recognized. But they performed the neoliberal doctrine dogmatically, brought a heavysocial cost to the Chilean society. They also reshaped the ideology for the Pinochet’s militarydictatorship, consolidated his political rule, and promoted the development of technocracy ofChile.The Chicago Boys also made important contributions to the development of the economicdiscipline in Chile--implementing the innovation of the Catholic University, promoting thediversification of the economic theory of Latin America and training talents of economics.