Editing Chicago Boys (section)

==History==
The term "Chicago Boys" has been used at least as early as the 1980s<ref name="GaryBecker">{{cite web|url= http://www.hoover.org/research/what-latin-america-owes-chicago-boys|title= What Latin America Owes to the 'Chicago Boys'|author= Gary S. Becker|work= Hoover Digest|publisher= Stanford University|date= 1997-10-30|access-date= 2012-11-14|archive-date= 2014-11-30|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141130173145/http://www.hoover.org/research/what-latin-america-owes-chicago-boys|url-status= live}}</ref> to describe Latin American economists who studied or identified with the [[liberalism|liberal]] economic theories then taught at the [[University of Chicago]], popularly known as the [[Chicago school of economics]], even though some of them earned degrees at [[Harvard University]] or [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]. They advocated widespread [[deregulation]], [[privatization]], and other [[free market]] policies for closely controlled economies. The Chicago Boys rose to prominence as leaders of the early reforms initiated in Chile during General [[Augusto Pinochet]]'s dictatorship.<ref name="GaryBecker"/> Milton and [[Rose Friedman]] used the term "Chicago Boys" in their memoir: "In 1975, when inflation still raged and a world recession triggered a depression in Chile, General Pinochet turned to the 'Chicago Boys'; he appointed several of them to powerful positions in the government."<ref>''Two Lucky People: Memoirs''. Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman. University of Chicago Press, 1998. p. 398.</ref>
 
The training program was the result of the "Chile Project" organized in the 1950s by the [[U.S. State Department]], through the [[Point Four program]], the first US program for global economic development.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Paterson|first=Thomas G.|date=1972|title=Foreign Aid under Wraps: The Point Four Program|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4634774|journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=56|issue=2|pages=119–126|jstor=4634774|issn=0043-6534|archive-date=2021-12-21|access-date=2021-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221155407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4634774|url-status=live}}</ref> It was funded by the [[Ford Foundation]] and the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] aimed at influencing Chilean economic thinking.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Biglaiser|first=Glen|date=2002|title=The Internationalization of Chicago's Economics in Latin America|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24097971|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=269–286 |doi=10.1086/322875 |s2cid=144618482 }}</ref> The University of Chicago's Department of Economics set up scholarship programs with Chile's Catholic University. About one hundred select students between 1957 and 1970 received training, first in an apprenticeship program in Chile and then in post-graduate work in Chicago. The most influential of the Chicago faculty members involved was Larry Sjaastad, who helped organize the Latin American Workshop and supervised 139 doctoral dissertations, many from Latin American students,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Clements |first1=Kenneth |last2=Tcha |first2=MoonJoong |date=June 2004 |title=The Larry Sjaastad Letters, I |url=https://ecompapers.biz.uwa.edu.au/paper/PDF%20of%20Discussion%20Papers/2004/04_15_Clements_Tcha_vol.1.pdf |access-date=September 18, 2024 |website=University of Western Australia}}</ref> during his 42-year teaching career at Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harms |first=William |date=May 9, 2012 |title=Larry Sjaastad, scholar of international economics, 1934–2012 |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/larry-sjaastad-scholar-international-economics-1934-2012 |access-date=September 18, 2024 |website=uchicago news |archive-date=September 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909150927/https://news.uchicago.edu/story/larry-sjaastad-scholar-international-economics-1934-2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The project was uneventful until the early 1970s. The Chicago Boys' ideas remained on the fringes of Chilean economic and political thought, even after a group of them prepared a 189-page "Program for Economic Development" called ''[[El ladrillo]]'' ("the brick").<ref>El Ladrillo. Bases de la política económica del gobierno militar chileno.Santiago: CEP 2nd edition1992</ref> It was presented in 1969 as part of [[Jorge Alessandri]]'s unsuccessful presidential candidacy. Alessandri rejected ''El ladrillo'', but it was revisited after the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état]] on 11 September 1973 brought Augusto Pinochet to power, and it became the basis of the new regime's economic policy.

After the coup when the Chicago boys were given power and ''El ladrillo'' was implemented, the Chilean GDP fell by about 15% by 1982 and government spending increased slightly. In addition, this has led to greater income inequality in Chile, which still impacts the country today.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Brender |first=Valerie |date=2010-03-01 |title=Economic Transformations in Chile: The Formation of the Chicago Boys |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/056943451005500112 |journal=The American Economist |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=111–122 |doi=10.1177/056943451005500112 |s2cid=156007531 |issn=0569-4345}}</ref>

These policies were seen as the natural reaction to Marxism and part of Chile's role as a hotspot during the Cold War. The anti-Marxist junta supported radical free market policies promoted by the Chicago Boys as a part of their destruction of Marxism.

After the end of the military rule and return to democracy this specific group lost power and many joined the private sector, although their policies and effects still remained in place in many areas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maxwell |first1=Kenneth |last2=Valdés |first2=Juan Gabriel |date=1996 |title=Pinochet's Economists: The Chicago School in Chile |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/20047535 |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=157 |doi=10.2307/20047535 |jstor=20047535 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>

Even though the Chile Project ended, the training connection between Chile and the University of Chicago continued. One of the numerous networking organizations for alumni, including the Chicago Boys, is the "Latin American Business Group at Chicago Booth School of Business" (LATAM). The term continues to be used in popular culture, business magazines, press and media. In 2015, a Chilean film titled Chicago Boys was released.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123562/|title=Chicago Boys|date=Nov 5, 2015|access-date=Sep 14, 2020|via=IMDb|archive-date=December 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219075215/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123562/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/full-time/student-experience/beyond-classroom/groups/labg |title=Latin American Business Group &#124; the University of Chicago Booth School of Business |access-date=2019-01-03 |archive-date=2020-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417163252/https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/full-time/student-experience/beyond-classroom/groups/labg |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Shock doctrine and economic policies ===
As the key economic advisors of the Pinochet dictatorship, the Chicago Boys were the forerunners of the economic policies of that government. They sponsored state run policies to decrease national spending, end inflation and promote economic growth. They promoted a policy of strict austerity and cut government expenditures substantially. Free trade agreements and the breakdown of barriers to trade were also promoted to help Chile compete in the world market. They also privatized public companies and used the free market rather than government rule to promote their economic policies.<ref name=":1" /> This was part of the neoliberal economic views espoused by Milton Friedman, the ideological backer for their views. Friedman and his connections to the Chicago Boys was highly politicized especially after he received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976. The policies are also sometimes referred to as shock therapy based on the fact that they were projected to hurt the economy but overall be beneficial in the long run.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Sebastian |last2=Montes |first2=Leonidas |title=Milton Friedman in Chile: Shock Therapy, Economic Freedom, and Exchange Rates |date=2020-02-04 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1053837219000397 |journal=Journal of the History of Economic Thought |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=105–132 |doi=10.1017/s1053837219000397 |s2cid=214507780 |issn=1053-8372}}</ref> These policies influenced future governments and organizations tied to the neoliberal economic viewpoint such as the [[World Bank]], [[International Monetary Fund]], and other International Organizations and governments. However, the relations between these organizations were not always close, and rivalry between neoliberal organizations still existed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kedar |first=Claudia |date=2017-02-03 |title=The International Monetary Fund and the Chilean Chicago Boys, 1973–7: Cold Ties between Warm Ideological Partners |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022009416685895 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=179–201 |doi=10.1177/0022009416685895 |s2cid=164694056 |issn=0022-0094}}</ref> The ideology of free market capitalism and laissez faire economics in conjunction with a strong military rule and total political control is the cornerstone of Pinochetism, in conjunction with a strong anti-communist political platform. These policies and their effects are both highly controversial in Chile and around the World and represent a major divide in Chilean politics to this day.<ref name=":2" />

=== International influence ===
The economic success of the Chicago boys was a critical part of bolstering the Pinochet regime abroad. The Chilean miracle as it was called attracted a lot of necessary positive attention for the Pinochet government and allowed Pinochet to exercise political repression without condemnation by economic allies. New policies such as structural adjustment, free trade, and tax cuts became incredibly popular with conservative political groups throughout the western world. These policies eventually spread into the United States and United Kingdom via their conservative leaders. Chile was one of the first countries to embrace these policies and they have since spread in part due to the initial success Chile experienced.<ref name=":0" />

Scholars have since examined the long-term significance of this influence in greater detail. The role of the Chicago Boys in reshaping Chile’s economy during the Pinochet era has been the subject of extensive analysis in economic and historical literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Sebastian |title=The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism |date=2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691208627}}</ref> Educated at the University of Chicago under economists such as Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger, the group implemented market-based reforms aimed at controlling inflation, transferring public enterprises to private ownership, liberalizing trade, and reducing the public sector. These reforms significantly altered Chile’s economic structure and became an influential case study for neoliberal economic policy. Supporters credit the reforms with stabilizing the economy and fostering long-term growth, while critics argue they increased inequality and were carried out under a government with limited political freedoms. Scholars such as Sebastian Edwards and Johan Van Overtveldt have examined the long-term implications of this period, noting both its economic outcomes and the political context in which reforms were enacted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Overtveldt |first=Johan |title=The Chicago School: How the University of Chicago Assembled the Thinkers Who Revolutionized Economics and Business |date=2007 |publisher=Agate Publishing |isbn=9781932841145}}</ref> The Chicago Boys are frequently cited as a case of the international application of Chicago School economic ideas.