ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyze the performance of manufacturing during the neoconservative experiment, emphasizing its effects on productive capacity. It analyses the extent of the decline of the Chilean manufacturing sector by looking at general indicators showing the evolution of employment and industrial output. The chapter describes the costs of the monetarist experiment in terms of manufacturing output and employment, comparing actual with potential figures. It analyzes the changes in the composition of employment by manufacturing groups. The chapter looks at general indicators attempting to quantify the magnitude and intensity of the decline of the Chilean manufacturing sector during the neoconservative experiment. It examines whether the decline of the sector should be interpreted as a movement in the right direction—that is, that it was the kind of resource reallocation process pursued by the policy makers—or whether the contraction was due to the failure of the model.
