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  • January 2020
  • Teaching Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Chile: Unrest in the Copper Nation

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:7
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Abstract

For decades, Chile enjoyed the stability of being the world’s largest producer of copper. Keynes would have advised that this period of growth would have been the time for the government to save, that “the boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.” If this wisdom has proven true on multiple occasions since Keynes’s statement in 1937, why do countries continue to conduct procyclical fiscal and monetary policies? Economists have documented this phenomenon across countries and found that particularly for emerging markets, capital inflows tend to coincide with expansionary macroeconomic policies while periods of capital outflows correspond with contractionary policies. Why is it so difficult for governments of emerging market countries to save during economic booms? By analyzing economic and social factors that contributed to unrest in Chile, students will wrestle with economic and ethical questions about balancing the needs of current and future generations.

Keywords

Copper Production; Protests; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Metals and Minerals; Production; Economy; Emerging Markets; Chile

Citation

Alfaro, Laura, and Sarah Jeong. "Chile: Unrest in the Copper Nation." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 320-054, January 2020.
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About The Author

Laura Alfaro

General Management
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More from the Authors
  • Sticky Capital Controls By: Miguel Acosta-Henao, Laura Alfaro and Andrés Fernández
  • Trade and Industrial Policy in Supply Chains: Directed Technological Change in Rare Earths By: Laura Alfaro, Harald Fadinger, Jay Schymik and Gede Virananda
  • Trade Within Multinational Boundaries By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Fariha Kamal and Zachary Kroff
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