Economia Smith

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impossible to assign responsibility among them. We share the opinion that the Concertación may well dissolve before Chile’s next election, but not for the reasons commonly cited. Our argument is based, instead, on the structure of Chilean political careers, which in turn is connected inextricably with Chile’s unusual electoral rules. Harbingers of the Concertación’s demise pointout that the Chilean PRESENTACIÓN economy has slowed somewhat since the coalition’s early years in government during the 1990s. Moreover, the coalition itself was initially galvanized around opposition to the Pinochet regime of the 1970s and 1980s, so as time passes, the compelling force of that initial motivation might naturally weaken. In addition, the Concertación, and even its componentparties —most notably the Christian Democrats— are internally divided over social issues, such as the legal status of divorce and access to birth control. Finally, by the 2005 elections, the Concertación will have held the presidency and a majority in the Chamber of Deputies (the legislative house elected by popular vote) LA 16 years. ByDE ADAM SMITH: TRAS for HUELLA the standards of multipartycoalitions anywhere, much less among Latin America’s presidential SU RELEVANCIA HOY systems, the Concertación is geriatric, bearing the scars of miscellaneous corruption charges against members, including the stripping of parliamentary rights from five of Leonidas Montes in 2002, and the the coalition’s deputies general disillusionment that goes with holding the reins of power for so long. One mightconclude, then, that the coalition is simply ready to expire. Any of these forces, or some combination of them, could indeed La influencia de algunos pensadores marca un verdadero hito en undermine the Concertación, but we do not regard these factors as nuestra historia intelectual. Adam Smith es un notable ejemplo. Cenecessarily devastating to the coalition’s survival for a number of reasons. lebrandolos 230 años de la publicación de Una Investigación acerca In the first place, the Chilean economy has come through the last five years de la Naturaleza y las Causas de la Riqueza de las Naciones (1776), in far better shape than that of any of its Southern Cone neighbors, and un conjunto de ensayos en este volumen destaca la relevancia para la employment and growth figures rebounded in firstmonths grandes pilares of 2003. The discusión actual de quien es considerado uno de los Concertación del pensamiento liberal. Esta introducción aclaim credit for good may well be in a position in 2005 to la serie de ensayos que economic stewardship. inicia destacando de manera muy sucinta algunos aspecle siguen se Next, many of the issues surrounding the nondemocratic legacy vidathe Pinochet era—includingsethe renowned tos de la of y obra de Adam Smith. En seguida analiza parcialmente la recepción de la obra de Smith con un hincapié especial en algunas de las contribuciones más recientes en torno a la investigación del legado de este pensador. Finaliza con el objetivo principal de esta breve introducción, esto es, presentar los ensayos que le siguen.

LEONIDAS MONTES. Ingeniero CivilIndustrial, Licenciado en Filosofía, Magíster en Ciencia Política de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Ph.D. y M.Phil. Facultad de Economía de la Universidad de Cambridge. Profesor de Economía en la Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez y miembro del Consejo Directivo del CEP.

Estudios Públicos, 104 (primavera 2006).

impossible to assign responsibility among them. We share the opinion that theConcertación may well dissolve before Chile’s next election, but not for the reasons commonly cited. Our argument is based, instead, on the structure of Chilean political careers, which in turn is connected inextricably ESTUDIOS PÚBLICOS with 6 Chile’s unusual electoral rules. Harbingers of the Concertación’s demise point out that the Chilean economy has slowed somewhat since the coalition’s early years...