“We thought that inequality would, in the end, disappear,” says Rolf Lüders, recalling his time at the helm of the Chilean economy. Now in his 80s, Mr Lüders is one of a group known as the “Chicago Boys”, responsible for the extreme inequality seen in Chile and who tend to be vilified during protests and riots, including those of the past two weeks. I went to Santiago to spend time talking to people at both ends of the income spectrum, and the Chicago Boys themselves. Chile was once a pin-up economy, lauded as the model other emerging economies should copy. What went wrong?

Many wanted Morales out. But what happened in Bolivia was a military coup | Gabriel Hetland Read more

The Chicago Boys were exchange students who travelled towere recorded as indigent in 1987 (meaning they could not afford food), and by 2000 this had fallen to 6%. At the Los Blanco market in San Bernardo – a low-end market in a poor district – I met people in their 50s who recalled being cold and hungry in their youth, and regarded Chile’s economic expansion as a reason for their improved lot.

The second pillar, and the reason Lüders believed inequality would go away, were educational reforms. El Ladrillo contains a section on “equality of opportunity, which explains how liberalisation will help: privatisation would mean more universities, and a new system of loans help those from poorer families gain degrees. With latent talent spread evenly across the country education would be an equalising force, and would make