Chile’s Old Guard Counts on the Free Market to Save the Economy
- Economists say the free market may keep populism in check
- Presidential vote may serve as referendum on economic system
Demonstrators clash with the police during a protest to mark the second anniversary of months of civil unrising against social inequality, in Santiago, on October 18, 2021. (Photo by Javier TORRES / AFP) (Photo by JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: JAVIER TORRES/AFPJuan Andres Fontaine and Jose De Gregorio have been guardians of Chile’s free-market economy for more than three decades -- as central bankers, economy ministers and professors.
So, like many of the old guard in Santiago, they’ve watched with trepidation as widespread street protests have led to a raiding of Chile’s vaunted pension-fund system, a push to rewrite the constitution and the possible election later this month of the country’s first hard-left president since the ill-fated Salvador Allende in the 1970s. Latin America’s wealthiest economy, Fontaine says, “is going through a minefield, wherever one looks there’s the possibility of a dangerous explosion.”