The sharp rise in the price of the dollar forced the government to intervene in the private administration of pension funds and the banking system. The two largest banks, BHC of Vial and Banco de Santiago of Cruzat-Larraín, came under state control. At the beginning of 1983, three financial institutions were liquidated, another five were taken over by the state, and two banks were subjected to a special regime of state oversight. The Central Bank then assumed responsibility for their external debt. Huge amounts of private debt were thus transferred to the state. The state—otherwise considered the biggest threat to humankind in neoliberal and conservative critiques of the welfare state—bailed out the private capitalist class at home and abroad. In the face of looming economic collapse, the regime was forced to redirect economic policy. Nonetheless, the basic features of the neoliberal development model either remained in place or were resurrected after the crisis. What explains the resilience of the neoliberal economic framework and the maintenance of the neoliberal economic cadre?

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1595