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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2023
The Chilean economic model has been widely studied both as a pioneering experiment in neoliberal policies and in regard to the growing social mobilisation against inequalities it has provoked. Insufficient attention has been paid, however, to the role of intellectuals in justifying and criticising the model. This article examines cultural battles over the economic model among the country's main columnists between 2010 and 2017, analysing debates as to the model's virtues and vices, achievements and failures. It shows how debate surrounding the model is highly reactive to current political events, yet occurs in somewhat of an elite bubble, centred on conceptual discussions and daily political events that tend to be dissociated from popular concerns.
El modelo económico chileno ha sido estudiado ampliamente tanto como un experimento pionero en las políticas neoliberales como por su relación con la creciente movilización social en contra de las desigualdades que ha provocado. Poca atención se ha dado, sin embargo, al papel de los intelectuales en justificar o criticar el modelo. Este artículo examina las batallas culturales sobre el modelo económico entre los principales columnistas del país entre 2010 y 2017, analizando los debates alrededor de las virtudes y los vicios del modelo, sus logros y fracasos. Muestra cómo las discusiones alrededor del modelo son altamente reactivas a los eventos políticos actuales, aunque se den en una especie de burbuja de élite, centrada en polémicas conceptuales y eventos políticos cotidianos que tienden a estar disociados de las preocupaciones populares.
O modelo econômico chileno tem sido amplamente estudado tanto como experiência pioneira nas políticas neoliberais quanto pela crescente mobilização social contra as desigualdades que tem provocado. No entanto, pouca atenção tem sido dada ao papel dos intelectuais na justificação ou crítica do modelo. Este artigo examina as batalhas culturais sobre o modelo econômico entre os principais colunistas do país entre 2010 e 2017, analisando debates sobre virtudes e vícios, conquistas e fracassos do modelo. Mostra ainda como o debate em torno do modelo é altamente reativo aos eventos políticos atuais, mas ocorre em uma espécie de bolha de elite, centrada em discussões conceituais e eventos políticos cotidianos que tendem a ser dissociados das preocupações populares.
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39 As a reference, newspaper readership in 2015 was as follows. El Mercurio: 384,526 people daily; La Tercera: 339,328 people daily; The Clinic: 117,030 people weekly. Of those readers, 70 per cent were classified from social stratum ABC1 and C2; that is, social elites in Chile. For 2017, readership and social-economic distribution was almost the same: 70 per cent were classified ABC1 and C2. (Source: IPSOS Media TC. Encuesta Valida Research, 2015 and 2018.) In terms of Chilean population, 14.1 per cent are classified as ABC1; 11.2 per cent as C2; 24.7 per cent as C3; 35.9 per cent as D; and 14.1 per cent as E. (Source: Asociación de Investigadores de Mercado, 2018.)
40 Juan Pablo Luna, Sergio Toro and Sebastián Valenzuela, ‘El ruido silencioso de los medios tradicionales’, Centro de Investigación Periodística (CIPER), 23 March 2021, available at www.ciperchile.cl/2021/03/23/el-ruidoso-silencio-de-los-medios-tradicionales/, last access 25 Nov. 2022.
41 For a profile of each of these economists and columnists analysed, see the online Appendix, available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X23000032 under the ‘Supplementary materials’ tab.
42 See online Appendix for a profile of each columnist under examination.
43 In 2017, El Mercurio published 18 opinions columns per week, of which 17 were written by men, while La Tercera published 38 per week, of which 32 were by men and only six by women. We looked carefully at women who wrote columns about capitalism and democracy in the main newspapers during this period, such as Andrea Repetto, Claudia Sanhueza, Lucia Santa Cruz and María de los Angeles Fernández. However interesting their columns were, none of them wrote regularly during this period. This reveals how, between 2010 and 2017, the economic model discussion in the main newspapers was approached as a male topic.
44 Catherine Kohler Riessman, Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences (London: Sage, 2008).
45 Sebastián Edwards, El Mercurio, 29 March 2014.
46 Arturo Fontaine, ‘Sobre el pecado original de la transformación capitalista chileno’, in Barry Levine, El desafío neoliberal: El fin del tercermundismo en América Latina (Bogotá: Grupo Editorial Norma, 1992), pp. 93–140.
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48 Alejandro Pelfini, Claudio Riveros and Omar Aguilar, ‘¿Han aprendido la lección? Las élites empresariales y su reacción ante las reformas. Chile 2014–2020’, Revista Izquierdas, 49 (Sept. 2020), pp. 4738–58; and Carlos Huneeus and Tomás Undurraga, ‘Authoritarian Rule and Economic Groups in Chile: A Case of Winner-Takes-All Politics’, in Victoria Basualdo, Hartmut Berghoff and Marcelo Bucheli (eds.), Big Business and Dictatorships in Latin America: A Transnational History of Profits and Repression (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), pp. 91−125.
49 Trust in private enterprise dropped from 31 per cent in 2010 to 17 per cent in 2012, and to 13 per cent in 2017 (CEP, 2010, 2012, 2017); discontent with privatised public services (water, electricity, etc.) grew from 62 per cent in 2010 to 74 per cent in 2013 (Latinobarómetro, 2010, 2013); and trust in political parties dropped from 22 per cent in 2010 to 10 per cent in 2017 (Latinobarómetro, 2010, 2017).
50 Eugenio Tironi, El Mercurio, 21 June 2011.
51 See Fairfield, Private Wealth and Public Revenue in Latin America.
52 Carlos Peña, El Mercurio, 3 Dec. 2017.
53 Carlos Peña, El Mercurio, 15 Jan. 2016.
54 Sebastián Edwards, La Tercera, 3 Dec. 2014.
55 Rolf Lüders, La Tercera, 14 Aug. 2014.
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58 Sebastián Edwards, La Tercera, 4 Feb. 2017.
59 Sebastián Edwards, La Tercera, 29 March 2014.
60 Sebastián Edwards, La Tercera, 7 May 2011.
61 Carlos Peña, El Mercurio, 14 Jan. 2016.
62 Fernando Atria, The Clinic, 21 June 2011.
63 Hernán Büchi, El Mercurio, 3 May 2017.
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68 Fernando Atria, The Clinic, 22 Aug. 2011.
69 Alberto Mayol, El Mostrador, 3 May 2013. Novoa refers to an influential senator for the Unión Demócrata Independiente (Independent Democratic Union, UDI), the political party with the closest ties to the Pinochet dictatorship.
70 Patricio Navia, La Tercera, 20 June 2011.
71 Ascanio Cavallo, La Tercera, 17 June 2017.
72 Alberto Mayol, El Mostrador, 12 Feb. 2014.
73 Ascanio Cavallo, La Tercera, 24 Jan. 2010.
74 Mayol, La Tercera, 25 Feb. 2016.
75 Fernando Atria, La Tercera, 1 Oct. 2016. AFPs refer to ‘Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones’ (Pension Fund Administrators).
76 Eugenio Tironi, El Mercurio, 22 Nov. 2011.
77 Solimano, Capitalismo a la chilena; Ahumada, The Political Economy of Peripheral Growth.
78 Rolf Lüders, La Tercera, 11 Nov. 2011. ‘Camila’ refers to Camila Vallejo, one of the 2011 student leaders who organised widespread mobilisation by criticising the unfairness of the economic model. Vallejo was then elected MP in 2013 and 2017, and since 2022 has been a government spokesperson under President Gabriel Boric.
79 Peña, Carlos, Lo que el dinero sí puede comprar (Santiago: Taurus, 2017)Google Scholar.
80 Pablo Ortúzar, Qué Pasa, 24 Nov. 2017.
81 ISAPREs refer to ‘Instituciones de Salud Previsional’, health insurers that mediate between patients and providers by negotiating with healthcare institutions the conditions of future medical provisions and controlling and managing the costs for their pool of users.
82 Patricio Fernández, The Clinic, 8 April 2016.
83 Eduardo Engel, La Tercera, 19 Oct. 2014.
84 Héctor Soto, La Tercera, 27 Aug. 2011.
85 Héctor Soto, La Tercera, 5 Oct. 2014.
86 Jorge Atria and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, ‘Informe de Resultados: Estudio COES de la elite cultural, económica y política en Chile’, Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social (Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies, COES), 2021, available at https://coes.cl/encuesta-elites-estudio-coes-de-la-elite-cultural-economica-y-politica-en-chile-2/, last access 25 Nov. 2022.
Online Appendix
