Which Has The Better Economy: Argentina Or Chile?

Which Country has the Best Economy?

  • Argentina

    Votes: 5 20.0%
  • Chile

    Votes: 20 80.0%

  • Total voters
    25
I overlooked the obsolescence of the data....!!! Under the heading Ambito.com shows today's date...??

Well below is the current situation of the country risk at 1061 basis points as reported by the B.A. Herald recently...


http://www.buenosair...ls-court-ruling

Friday, August 23, 2013​

Shares drop; country risk tightens after US appeals court ruling

After a US appeal court ruling on Argentina's fight with bondholders the Merval index in Buenos Aires Stock Exchange dropped one percent to 3,903.21 points, while the country risk tightened 3.7 percent to 1,061 basis points.

Argentina today lost its appeal of a US judge's order requiring that it pay $1.33 billion to the so called holdouts, but the appeals court put enforcement of injunctions on hold pending resolution of the country's appeal to the US Supreme Court.
 
Doesn't Argentina also provide public medical care to anyone that is here, DNI or not? Does anyone know? I am under the impression that they do.
 
Doesn't Argentina also provide public medical care to anyone that is here, DNI or not? Does anyone know? I am under the impression that they do.

From an overall public health standpoint, this makes sense.
 
Quote: If I had such a poor view of this country id probably pick up my toys and go home. But I like it here and I also study here because I am paying one fifth of what I would be paying in a comparable school in the USA. I dont feel I am taking advantage of Argentina or that they are subsidizing my education.

Jackbower, the fact that we care about the economic state of Argentina does not mean that we have a poor view of the country. Quite the contrary. In my case it means I do care about the country and the productive people who keep going through this. All of these services have to be paid for by the Argentina people. ALL of it. There isn't any free spout where it all comes out. It isn't free. And it gets worse.

When the social services are so high that it is not possible to collect the money FROM the Argentina people directly, then the government has to print it. When the government prints more than they take in it causes inflation. Inflation destroys the value of the Argentina people's savings--even if they do keep it in the mattress because they can't trust the banks. So the people are robbed, whether directly or indirectly.

Now I know half the people here will argue with me but this is the cold hard economic fact. Somebody does have to pay. This is what keeps happening to the Argentines. It's so obvious that it's almost like the country is being financially impoverished on purpose. I don't find fault with the people who take advantage of it though. Most honestly don't understand what is happening.
 
I have lived in both countries. Chile is the neoliberal poster-boy of the Americas - the country was completely reformed under the Pinochet government . The members of the government in charge of the reform had mostly studied at universities in the US (the so called Chicago Boys). As a result almost everything is privatized today in Chile: healthcare, public transportation, pensions, education (from elementary school to university), large portion of the highways system (and it is expensive), utilities (I paid way more in Chile than in Argentina) etc. etc. A friend of mine is a single mother in the Valparaiso region and she pays a fee every month to some ambulance provider - so in case something happened to her daughter she gets an ambulance coming to her house. Also my impression was that higher education was quite expensive (but not that good) when considering the average income - preventing members of the lower classes from sending their kids to college. There are often mass demonstrations in Chile demanding free education. The pictures of the police beating up the students resemble footages from the time of the military coup.
Regarding the GDP per capita in Chile: Have you looked at the distribution of the income? My impression is that there is a very small very rich upper class (with strong ties to the current center-right/extreme right government and the former Pinochet government) but a lot of poor Chileans and even lower middle class members seem struggling to make it. Also wealth seems to be concentrated in some parts of Santiago (center versus periphery).

Having that said I think it is easier to start a business in Chile. The laws and (less) regulations in Chile are business friendly and consumer protection seems to be very limited. As some have mentioned in another thread there is even a program that gives you (expats!) around $40.000 USD to start up your business (program called "Startup Chile") and you do not have to pay it back. I have met some young entrepreneurs who got the grant - all of them left Chile after finishing the six months of the program.
 
I have friends in Chile. I don't think money falls out of the sky on them but they work very hard and they do very very well. Started out the father made some kind of change purses and sold them on the street, the girls came along and both went into business a few levels up from him. One started making posters (advertising) and struggled for a long time and now her business is booming and she sells all over Chile. I don't know what you would call rich (at what point) but she is extremely well to do. But no one gave it to her. Took her several years to get it really making the bucks but it does now. The other rented a large house in Valdivia and established a hospedage and was very successful. I think this is how it is supposed to work. There may be a large rich group, but I have watched this family over years and I know first-hand that in Chile if a person is willing to work, they can become very successful.
 
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