Chicago-trained economists were placed throughout the Chilean state before the 1973 coup.

Evidence

Such countercurrents notwithstanding, the Chile-Chicago exchange program was very successful in realizing its promoters’ expectations. After their return to Chile, the young economists brought their freshly acquired knowledge into the conglomerates or filled academic posts at Catholic University. Economists affiliated with the ruling Christian Democratic Party entered state agencies in the 1960s under President Eduardo Frei. Chicago-trained and other neoliberal economists secured important positions in the Central Bank (e.g., Alvaro Bardón, Carlos Massad, Jorge Cauas), the budget agency, and the supraministerial planning office ODEPLAN. Immediately after the coup, ODEPLAN would become the “operational basis” of the economic change team that designed the economic transformation. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1552

Categorization

• XREF: The placement of Chicago alumni inside ODEPLAN and the Central Bank is the precise mechanism that made post-coup shock therapy possible - ties into the broader network-building thesis of the book. — connects to: Chicago economists trained under a US aid program shaped Pinochet’s reforms — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 516; The CIA-backed coup installed Chicago-school austerity economists in Chile — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 356; The Chicago–Chile economics project produced over a dozen top government economic officials — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 316 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Chicago-trained economists filled key Chilean ministries under Pinochet #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1624
• Chicago-trained economists and gremialistas joined forces in university politics before the coup #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1556
• A coup enabled economists to capture a whole state’s economic machinery #corroborates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1576
• Chile’s CIA-backed coup installed economists who imposed austerity suppressing working-class alternatives #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 356