ABSTRACT
The original sin of the so-called Chilean miracle raises results from its illegitimacy of origin and the authoritarian conditions under which the reforms were first implemented. Since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990, Chile has been a success story of democratic consolidation and economic development. While the rest of Latin America continues to go through periods of rapid growth followed by stagnation or recession, Chile has moved forward as it has maintained a pattern of moderate growth and has successfully avoided declines. Under President Eduardo Frei, educational reform focused on increasing teachers' pay, transparency of school level test scores and the adoption of the extended school day for municipal and voucher schools. Though first implemented under military rule, the market-friendly educational reforms were consolidated after democracy was restored in 1990. By building an institutional set-up that protected foreign investment, the military government sent a clear signal of commitment to market-friendly policies.
