What makes Chile stand out from the rest of South America economically?

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Mrs. Obama rules!

I totally agree with homeless. Regarding your political affiliation and your sympathy or hate towards Pinochet, he was the one who took Chile from being a near communist corrupted country to one of the best in South America, if not the best. Chile has copper and many other natural resources but the economy grew under Pinochet whether people want to accept it or not. It's the only country in South America with no shanty towns, even the most poor people have a roof to sleep under every night thanks to the famous government "subsidio habitacional". As for corrupted governments, Chile has had many since the fall of Pinochet.... ask Lagos.

alfredo1967

Since the mid-1980s, the economy has averaged almost 6 percent annual growth, raising per capita income for the 16 million Chileans to more than $7,000--making them among the most prosperous people in South America--and creating a thriving middle class. Today; only 18.7 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, compared, for example, with 38.7 percent in Brazil and 62.4 percent in Bolivia. At this pace, Chile, within a generation, will become Latin America's most prosperous nation.

The experience of Chile in the 1970s and 1980s, and more particularly the model of authoritarian political control combined with neoliberal economic policies, has influenced the policies of the Communist Party of China and has been invoked as a model by economic reformers in other countries, such as Boris Yeltsin in Russia and in other Eastern European post-Communist societies. The Chilean social security reform has been followed by 30 countries around the world, including Poland and Sweden, and has been invoked by President George W. Bush and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan in the U.S. as an example to follow.

According to the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, Chile is the world's 11th most free economy today. Chile is ranked 3rd out of 29 countries in the Americas and has been a regional leader for over a decade. Chile had GDP growth of 6.1% in 2004, and has averaged a 4.0% annual increase in GDP over the last five years for which data is available.

homeless

They had the honorable EL Generalisimo Augusto Pinochet to set them in the right direction

Alfredster

I don't write this to compete, but Argentina has higher HDI and GNI (PPP) per capita. However, is not as developed as Chile in many aspects.

george l

They are the Only South American country that thrives under capitalism because they have a well educated population and do not have corrupt leaders and law enforcement

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