Introduction:
Gary Becker was an economist at the University of Chicago who achieved incredible influence in his academic field, as well as in international politics. One of the founding figures of the Chicago School of neoliberal economic theory, Becker won the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences in 1992 as well as the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 for his work on the connection between social life and the market. Chicago-educated economists, including many who had worked directly with Becker, played a key role in the economic reforms enacted under Pinochets military regime in Chile, becoming known as the Chicago Boys. These economists held key roles in the Pinochet administration and implemented policies focused on deregulation, privatization, and the elimination of social programs. Their work has been controversial, generating intense debate among political scientists and economists as to the outcomes of the reforms initiated, as well as over whether their support for a military government notorious for its human rights abuses can be considered morally acceptable. In this op-ed published in the influential American business magazine Businessweek in 1997, Becker argues that the Chicago Boys had received insufficient credit for their work in regenerating the Chilean economy.
Read the attached document and answer the following questions in number form:
1. What types of changes enacted by Chicago-trained economists in Chile and other South American countries does Becker see as especially significant?
2. What does Becker see as the connection between neoliberal economic reform and the shift from military to democratic rule?
3. Notably, Becker does not mention the human rights abuses committed by the Pinochet regime in his discussion of the economic changes enacted by the regime. How can we interpret this absence of attention?
