page_title: Economic history of Chile
section_title: "Neoliberal" reforms (1973–90)
hierarchical_section_title: Economic history of Chile / "Neoliberal" reforms (1973–90)
caption_attribution_description: imagen viñedo Puente Alto, Chile
context_page_description: The economy of Chile has shifted substantially over time from the heterogeneous economies of the diverse indigenous peoples to an early husbandry-oriented economy and finally to one of raw material export and a large service sector. Chile's recent economic history has been the focus of an extensive debate from which "neoliberalism" acquired its modern meaning.
  Chile emerged into independence as a rural economy on what was the periphery of the Spanish Empire. A period of relative free trade that began with independence in the 1810s brought a modernizing development of certain sectors of the Chilean economy. This was accompanied by formation of a local business class, a novelty in Chile. Chile experienced its first modern economic crisis with the Long depression in the 1870s. The exploitation of lucrative nitrate deposits of the north conquered in War of the Pacific marked a whole epoch in the history of Chile and the economic legacy of nitrate has been widely debated.
  In the first half of the 20th century Chile suffered severe economic recessions including the Great Depression.
context_section_description: From an economic point of view, the era can be divided into two periods. The first, from 1973 to the Crisis of 1982, corresponds to the period when most of the reforms were implemented. The period ended with the international debt crisis and the collapse of the Chilean economy. At that point, unemployment was extremely high, above 20 percent, and a large proportion of the banking sector had become bankrupt. During that first period, an economic policy that emphasized export expansion was implemented. Some economists argue that the economic recovery of the second period, from 1982 to 1990, was due to Pinochet's nationalisation of banks and reintroduction to the private market in 1984.
caption: Image of Chilean vineyard in the foothills of the Andes near Santiago. Chile is now the fifth largest exporter of wines in the world, and the ninth largest producer.
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