The first 25 attendees at the event will receive a free copy of “The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism.” The University of Chicago Bookstore will also have books available for purchase at this event.
Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.
In 1955, the United States launched the “Chile Project” to train Chilean economists at the University of Chicago. After General Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile’s “Chicago Boys” implemented the purest neoliberal model in the world for the next seventeen years. But under the veneer of success, a profound dissatisfaction was growing.
Sebastian Edwards, Henry Ford II Professor of International Economics at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management, will discuss his book “The Chile Project” in which he tells the remarkable story of how the neoliberal economic model came to an end in 2021, when Gabriel Boric, a young former student activist, was elected president.
Edwards’ presentation will be followed by a fireside chat alongside James Heckman, who has been at the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago since 1973, moderated by Eduardo Porter, columnist and editorial board member at the Washington Post.