The whole pension system was turned over to private enterprises, although members of the armed forces continued to receive comprehensive state guarantees. Legally mandated security for the investment of individuals provided for a minimal pension only. The government thereby opened up a vast new market. Capital collected on the basis of individual insurance contracts with workers and employees eventually amounted to approximately 20 percent of Chile’s gross domestic product (GDP) after ten years. While the private schemes were presented to the public as a liberating device for the individual, two of the Chilean conglomerates (BHC and Cruzat-Larrain) quickly gobbled up no less than two-thirds of the market (O’Brian and Roddick 1983; Mönckeberg 2001, 209–230).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1587