Everything changes because nothing changes? Social policies and cycles of economic and institutional transformation in Chile

Abstract

This article analyzes Chilean social policies over the last thirty years, specifically the choices made by successive governments, as well as the rejection they have experienced over the last decade. On the basis of sustained economic growth, social policies put in place have helped to significantly reduce poverty rates and improve the living conditions of the population, without however managing to limit income inequality. The central question we address is how a model that ensures economic growth and enables the improvement of living conditions can also produce a profound rejection from a significant part of the population. The combination of growth policies directed at the poor and means-tested social policies, despite their success, has not managed to correct the most divisive effects of the economic system, particularly in the areas of education, health, and pensions. We show how the limits of this model, combined with an unfulfilled promise of equal opportunity, have, since the 2000s, paved the way for an intense debate about the future of the Chilean economic and social model. The final part of the article discusses the dilemmas of the Bachelet government in the current context of social reforms and a deep economic downturn.