ABSTRACT
In recent years, economists and others have become increasingly interested in the informal economies of Latin America. Indeed, they were seen as something of a model by the Peruvian novelist and unsuccessful candidate for president, Mario Vargas Llosa. Although traditional industries languish, impromptu markets and small family businesses seem to possess remarkable vitality and ingenuity. Luis Razeto, a member of the well-known Programa de economía del trabajo (PET) group of economists, is concerned with a similar phenomenon in Chile. He is well aware, though, that the Chilean economy functioned for many years as a survival mechanism. In poor areas of Chile, wracked by unemployment and underemployment, poor people set in motion an entire set of informal initiatives to overcome poverty and even starvation. Ranging from the traditional Chilean pololos (odd jobs) to the production of the striking handsewn arpilleras, these activities have produced what Razeto and others call a “popular economy.” At the same time, the cooperative efforts of the poor have resulted in a kind of social safety net, which Cristián Parker has termed “an informal social security system.” This has replaced, albeit inadequately, the once well-developed social welfare system of the Chilean state. Razeto calls this new network “the economy of solidarity” In showing how the popular economy and the economy of solidarity differ yet overlap, he clarifies an important dimension of popular culture in a country where free-market economics has prevailed since 1973 and is likely to continue to dominate well into a post-Pinochet era.
