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Chile 1820–2020 : a case of frustrated development?

Ducoing, Cristian LU orcid and Badia-Miró, Marc (2025) p.322-335
Abstract

More than six decades ago, Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz (1959) published his pivotal work, Chile, a case of frustrated development. Almost 65 years later, this concept has been reborn under the massive protests and social unrest of 2019, the COVID pandemic, and the new lithium cycle. Chile, the former “Latin American Miracle,” has become an unstable and troublesome state, not particularly different from its Latin American neighbors. In this chapter, we provide a quantitative assessment of the Chilean economy over 200 years. One of the main points that have been overlooked in the Chilean economic history literature has been the (un)sustainable aspects of Chile's economic development. We address this point using complementary measures, such as... (More)

More than six decades ago, Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz (1959) published his pivotal work, Chile, a case of frustrated development. Almost 65 years later, this concept has been reborn under the massive protests and social unrest of 2019, the COVID pandemic, and the new lithium cycle. Chile, the former “Latin American Miracle,” has become an unstable and troublesome state, not particularly different from its Latin American neighbors. In this chapter, we provide a quantitative assessment of the Chilean economy over 200 years. One of the main points that have been overlooked in the Chilean economic history literature has been the (un)sustainable aspects of Chile's economic development. We address this point using complementary measures, such as the exploitation of natural resources, mixed environmental indicators, and adjusted net savings. The main results show a lack of convergence with the leading economies and a contested leadership in the Latin American context.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Chile, Economic History, Mining, Natural Resources, Sustainable Development
host publication
The Elgar Companion to the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean
pages
14 pages
publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
external identifiers
  • scopus:105033078151
ISBN
9781035317202
9781035317196
DOI
10.4337/9781035317202.00021
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
adfcd606-908d-4641-8929-e47e45781241
date added to LUP
2026-04-23 14:52:37
date last changed
2026-04-24 03:11:42
@inbook{adfcd606-908d-4641-8929-e47e45781241,
  abstract     = {{<p>More than six decades ago, Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz (1959) published his pivotal work, Chile, a case of frustrated development. Almost 65 years later, this concept has been reborn under the massive protests and social unrest of 2019, the COVID pandemic, and the new lithium cycle. Chile, the former “Latin American Miracle,” has become an unstable and troublesome state, not particularly different from its Latin American neighbors. In this chapter, we provide a quantitative assessment of the Chilean economy over 200 years. One of the main points that have been overlooked in the Chilean economic history literature has been the (un)sustainable aspects of Chile's economic development. We address this point using complementary measures, such as the exploitation of natural resources, mixed environmental indicators, and adjusted net savings. The main results show a lack of convergence with the leading economies and a contested leadership in the Latin American context.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ducoing, Cristian and Badia-Miró, Marc}},
  booktitle    = {{The Elgar Companion to the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean}},
  isbn         = {{9781035317202}},
  keywords     = {{Chile; Economic History; Mining; Natural Resources; Sustainable Development}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{322--335}},
  publisher    = {{Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.}},
  title        = {{Chile 1820–2020 : a case of frustrated development?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781035317202.00021}},
  doi          = {{10.4337/9781035317202.00021}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}