A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES
Guayaquil, Ecuador. Chile and Ecuador provide an almost perfect test case of competing economic visions.
Back in 1980, Ecuador had a slightly higher per capita income than Chile. In the past 33 years, Ecuador has increased its real per capita income a little more than threefold, but during the same period Chile has increased its per capita income more than sixfold.
Chile now has the highest per capita income in South America, and most of its citizens are now enjoying a middle-class life style. Why has Chile done so much better than Ecuador? The answer is clear and quite instructive.