ODEPLAN functioned as an insulated think tank seeding ideologically cohesive technocrats across Chilean ministries

Evidence

Undersecretaries were often recruited from ODEPLAN, the most pro-market reform institution within the government until the early 1980s. From early on, the planning ministry was accorded a high degree of autonomy within the administration. It thereby assumed the functions of a government laboratory or think tank in charge of researching and coordinating various reform projects in separate policy areas. The guiding force behind ODEPLAN was the gremialista and Chicago economist Miguel Kast. As subdirector (1975) and director (1978), he recruited like-minded economists and other professionals (agrarian engineers, for example) and thereby turned ODEPLAN into an ideologically cohesive think tank with a reliable network of experts who were closely linked to all the important institutions and agencies of the government. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1572

Categorization

• XREF: ODEPLAN as an ideologically cohesive staffing pipeline resonates with the literature on how neoliberal networks (e.g., Mont Pèlerin alumni) seeded institutions — connects directly to the book’s core network-formation theme. — connects to: Mont Pelerin Society networks seeded think tanks across Latin America — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 561; The Chilean network fused academics, big business, and military force to implement its ideas. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1565; Chilean neoliberals founded think tanks to preserve their influence after losing power — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1610 (+2 more)
• SEED: Angle: the ‘invisible staff pipeline’ as a mechanism of policy regime durability — how one ideologically cohesive think tank can outlast ministerial turnover and steer a state’s trajectory.

Broader Connections

• Chilean neoliberals founded think tanks to preserve their influence after losing power #corroborates (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1610
• Chicago-trained economists spread neoliberal ideas among Chilean capitalists through business associations #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1557