Free markets cut Chile quake’s impact
by Tim Wilson, March 3, 2010
A number of articles have been published since the Chilean earthquake rightly pointing out that its magnitude was much greater than the quake that hit Haiti, but the lives lost in Chile is smaller and the capacity to rebuild is much higher than in Haiti. And the reason, as outlined in this WSJ Article is a direct consequence of the free market therapy delivered by the ‘Chicago Boys’, led by Milton Friedman, during an otherwise unpleasant period in Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship. We cannot condone the Chilean dictatorship or the methods they used, but few today would argue that the shock therapy delivered by Friedman et al wasn’t a good unintended consequence. And doubly so following this earthquake.
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