Chilean privatization concentrated wealth in conglomerates while state kept strategic sectors

Evidence

The privatization process (of 507 public firms in 1973, 70 remained in 1976) certainly strengthened the private sector and led to a rapid increase in concentration of private property in the Chilean economy: a handful of conglomerates acquired the offered enterprises at relatively low prices, including financial institutions. However, the transfer of state property to the private sector remained incomplete. At the beginning of the 1980s, the state still owned six of the country’s top ten enterprises, all of them in strategic sectors (copper, electricity, oil, and transport; see Rozas and Marín 1988, 1989). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1633

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to accounts of neoliberal shock therapy in Chile (Harvey’s Brief History of Neoliberalism and Klein’s Shock Doctrine). — connects to: Chile’s privatized pensions enriched two conglomerates while excluding the armed forces — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1587; Chile privatized even profitable state firms beyond crisis-nationalized ones, deepening foreign capital ties — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1604; Privatizing state services produces bifurcated access to social goods — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1742

Broader Connections

• Privatizing state services produces bifurcated access to social goods #expands (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1742