MACMILLAN The Political Economy of Peripheral Growth: Chile in the Global Economy

This book provides a political economy perspective on Chile’s contemporary economic development, explaining the different stages of Chile’s neoliberal pattern of economic integration into the global economy from 1973 to 2015. Three key explanatory variables are considered: the evolution of business-state relations, US geopolitical interest in the region through the waves of trade agreements, and the political impact of the dynamics of inflows and outflows of financial capital. Although Chile is typically considered to be a successful case of a free market economy, this book presents an alternative narrative of Chile’s growth through using a Latin American Structuralist political economy perspective. While it recognises the positive results in terms of growth, it also emphasises the lack of dynamic sources for long-term development, which embeds the economy into short-term booms followed by periods of stagnation. Review “Jose Miguel Ahumada has written a very relevant and engaging book on the rise, propagation but also limits of free-market development in the context of emerging economies. Using an interesting blend of empirical analysis, history – including the history of ideas – and political economy, he sheds light on critical issues of stabilization, de-industrialization, inequality and pressure groups.” (Andres Solimano, author of Global Capitalism in Disarray (2017) and President, International Center of Globalization and Development) “Chile is a transparent example of the potentials and limitations of a neo-liberal insertion into the world economy, especially of how a resource-rich emerging economy can get caught in the middle-income trap. Extractive industries and services can take advantage of niches of growth, but the ‘invisible hand’ have not been able to make this growth sustainable. This book provides an in-depth analysis of these phenomena and is a much needed contribution to the development literature.” (José Gabriel Palma, Emeritus Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, UK) From the Back Cover This book provides a political economy perspective on Chile’s contemporary economic development, explaining the different stages of Chile’s neoliberal pattern of economic integration into the global economy from 1973 to 2015. Three key explanatory variables are considered: the evolution of business-state relations, US geopolitical interest in the region through the waves of trade agreements, and the political impact of the dynamics of inflows and outflows of financial capital. Although Chile is typically considered to be a successful case of a free market economy, this book presents an alternative narrative of Chile’s growth through using a Latin American Structuralist political economy perspective. While it recognises the positive results in terms of growth, it also emphasises the lack of dynamic sources for long-term development, which embeds the economy into short-term booms followed by periods of stagnation. About the Author José Miguel Ahumada is a Teaching Associate at the Department of Politics and Government in the Alberto Hurtado University, Chile. Dr Ahumada’s main research interests are in the areas of political economy of development in Latin America, comparative political economy and the history of economic thought.