Resumen de Apertura y Eficiencia Productiva: La Industria Chilena, 1975-1988
Rafael Agacino, Gonzalo Rivas, Enrique Roman
The results of Chile's profound economic liberalizations remain the subject of ongoing debate. Using the Total Factor Productivity approach (TFP); we review the industrial sector performance during the 1975-1988 period. Our analysis shows that greater competitiveness dictated by economic liberalization was not accomplished through technical change but, rather, through intensive factor use (1976-81), or extensive factor use (1984-88). After exhaustion of the "easy phase", new levels of productive efficiency necessitated technical innovation, that is, investment in equipment, training. and reorganization of productive processes. However, after the 1982-83 crisis, firms did not follow this path: previous financial stress and low wage costs determined a growth path based on extensive use of labor, thereby delaying technological modernization of the industrial sector.
