[Politics] Ignacio Briones, Sebastián Edwards, Óscar Landerretche: social outbreak and 4 lost years

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Good and happy Thursday! This week is the fourth anniversary of the social outbreak. In between we have had a pandemic, an inflationary escalation that generated price increases not seen in 30 years, and two wars.

At first glance the economy showed its resilience, but today Chile is a more indebted, poorer country with the same social demands that triggered the revolt, still without finding answers. We run the risk of becoming the first country in the world to reject a constitutional text twice.
The big problem of the economy is politics. Growth has been stagnant for more than 10 years and we cannot agree to achieve a new social pact and take advantage of something in which there is general consensus among economists: the green revolution and the energy transition , which have put us in front of a historic opportunity to take a leap in development. I'm afraid we're going to waste it.
And if you want to see an example of how that ends, look at what is happening in Argentina, where this Sunday they vote for a new president and those who lead the polls are the two extremes: one who wants to abolish the Central Bank and dollarize the economy and, the other, the left-wing populist, who is practically eliminating the income tax, the most progressive of taxes.
On this occasion, I invite you to watch or listen to my interviews with Ignacio Briones, Sebastián Edwards and Óscar Landerretche: three views on the outbreak and its impact on the economy.

 

 

For this edition of El Semanal Exprés we spoke with them to analyze in depth the legacy of the crisis, the lost opportunity and the institutional resilience that allowed us to face it. The three agree that politics has had the country and its economy stagnant for more than a decade.

Ignacio Briones, Minister of Finance of Piñera II, who took office in the midst of the outbreak and had to face the pandemic: “The outbreak was related to frustrations of expectations. The key to unlocking stagnation is to change the political system. In the current system it is not possible to reach agreements.”
Sebastián Edwards, an economist who has been warning of polarization since Bachelet II: “The outbreak was a disaster. These four years have been a great farce due to the stubbornness and short-termism of politicians. The right does not recognize that the neoliberal 1.0 model is exhausted and the left does not want to recognize that this model was successful.”
Óscar Landerretche, defender of the much maligned 30 years and critic of the elites: “I see the different political segments of this country basically trapped in the same rhetoric as 50 years ago and the economy structurally stagnant… we are facing the Peruvianization of the policy".
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https://www.elmostrador.cl/el-semanal/2023/10/19/ignacio-briones-sebastian-edwards-oscar-landerretche-estallido-social-y-4-anos-perdidos/