Changes in Chile’s production structure, 1986-1996: Output and industrial interdependence

In earlier studies, the author showed that the type of development adopted by Chile differed significantly from that of the successful East Asian countries. Up to 1986, the Chilean economy had a relatively weak and technologically unsophisticated manufacturing base, and the penetration of imported inputs was mainly at the expense of the scanty domestic productive intermediation. Therefore, neither manufacturing industrialization nor industrial interdependence appeared to facilitate the type of manufactured exports that might sustain dynamic industrial development based on external markets. The present paper analyses changes in Chile’s production structure from 1986 to 1996, generally extended to 2000, using methods similar to those of earlier studies. The conclusion is that, despite the outstanding growth rates over the period, the economy still appears relatively weak as a basis for a sustainable increase in economic and technological sophistication.