Objetividad de Estado, or Economics as a Science of Dictatorship: The Chicago Boys in Chile during the Pinochet Regime

This paper deals with a specific type of policy transfer: economic policy formulated by the Chicago Boys and adopted by the Pinochet administration. Pinochet’s dictatorship relied not only on military force, but also on economic power. “Academic elites” trained at the University of Chicago lent legitimacy to the regime. Led by Milton Friedman, the Chicago Boys lent the Pinochet economic doctrine a patina of science and objectivity. How was this knowledge converted into principles of government? How did this so-called “economic science” become a part of the authoritarian platform? This article answers these questions by shedding light on the circulation, certification, and coalitions around and against these ideas.