La Revista Economía y Política es una publicación científica interdisciplinaria orientada al análisis de procesos, prácticas e instituciones políticas en sus relaciones con fenómenos económicos, históricos y sociales. Editada por la Escuela de Gobierno de la Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, constituye un espacio académico para la difusión de investigaciones rigurosas que contribuyan al entendimiento crítico de las transformaciones contemporáneas. La revista privilegia enfoques metodológicos diversos y perspectivas teóricas innovadoras que permitan comprender la complejidad de los fenómenos sociopolíticos y económicos.
Rethinking Mission-Oriented Technology Policies: a Critical Analysis of their Approaches to Health Industries
Recently, Mission-Oriented Policies (MOPs) have regained public prominence, having peaked during the post-World War II era. Today, they are being promoted as a response to the search for technological solutions to major social challenges, many of which are related to the health sector. Despite their place in the debate on industrial policies, few approaches to MOPs have engaged with the field of international health. This work aims to contribute to filling that gap by providing a critical analysis of MOPs, considering two aspects that address the link between these policies and the socioeconomic determinants of health: their relationship with capitalism and with the core-periphery divide. From the connection between missions and health, two broad versions of MOPs emerge, which we term transformative and welfare-oriented, respectively. It is argued that combining transformative MOPs with more systemic and holistic approaches (e.g., the Health Economic-Industrial Complex framework) could serve as a tool to promote relevant structural changes in the health dynamics of peripheral countries.
The relevance of Karl Polanyi in times of crisis: A historical-intellectual reconstruction
This article examines the contemporary reception of Karl Polanyi’s thought, particularly his seminal work The Great Transformation (1944), proposing that renewed interest in his ideas tends to intensify during periods of structural crisis, when the dominant economic order is in tension and conventional explanatory frameworks become insufficient. Through a bibliographic and contextual analysis, the article identifies two major waves of reception: the first (1970–1990), articulated as a critique of emerging neoliberalism and the limitations of Keynesianism; and the second (2008–present), linked to the global financial crisis and new forms of commodification, with contributions from critical theory, solidarity economy, and economic sociology. Finally, the article offers a philosophical and epistemological reflection on the conditions that make this renewed attention possible. Overall, it argues that Polanyi’s relevance lies not merely in thematic updates, but in his ability to conceptualize the economy as a socially, institutionally, and morally embedded phenomenon in times of historical transformation.
10 years of Vaca Muerta: analysis of the oil tax regime and the appropriation of oil rent in Argentina and the region
The present study aims to examine the evolution of the Argentine fiscal regime in the oil sector in a comparative perspective with respect to other countries in the region, in a context characterized by the promotion of the Vaca Muerta productive project. In recent years, the sector has been projected as a future export platform in the context of the pressing external constraints. To deal with the shortage of foreign currency, different government administrations have been sacrificing state participation through deep reforms in the fiscal regime, granting benefits to attract investments. In this context, companies in the sector emerge as the main winners in the dispute over oil revenues, to the detriment of state participation. However, fiscal policy should prioritize sustainable development due to the progressive depletion of nonrenewable resources. Based on a comparative analysis with other countries in the region, we can conclude that Argentina stands out as the only country that has significantly sacrificed its state participation by implementing profound reforms to its tax system.
tax revenues from non-renewable resources
Cultural Institutional Frameworks, legislation, and Public Agencies for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries: Insights from South Korea for Chile
The aim of this article is to analyze the implementation and role of legislation, as well as promotion and research agencies, in the recent development of South Korea's cultural and creative industries, and to explore how this experience can provide strategic insights for shaping cultural policy in Chile. Since the 1990s, both countries regained their democracies and adopted a markedly neoliberal economy that has been reinforced in the last three decades. Both Chile and South Korea designed and implemented cultural policies under this economic model, but with dissimilar participation of the State in the strategic design of their cultural and creative industries. Through a bibliographic review, in-depth interviews and field visits in Seoul, this article seeks to identify learning dimensions of the Korean context that help to think about the design and implementation of policies to promote Chilean cultural and creative industries. The article demonstrates that the creation of strategic research and development agencies in the area in the 2000s were crucial to its commercial success, an aspect that has been incipiently implemented in Chile in recent years.
Cultural and creative industries, South Korea, Chile, Hallyu, Cultural Policy
Recent Reshaping of the Interface between Educational Research and Education Policy in Chile (2000-2010)
Since the mid-2000s educational research in Chile has experienced significant growth. One of the key factors behind this transformation is the design and implementation of science policy instruments aimed at promoting the production and use of knowledge in education. These instruments have sought to configure a science-policy interface that articulates the relationship between educational research and public policy. Based on a documentary analysis of four educational research strengthening programs implemented during that period, this article examines how these initiatives have attempted to shape the links between scientific knowledge, policy decisions, and the education system. The findings show that the implicit conceptions embedded in these instruments promote an interface characterized by collaboration between researchers and policymakers, shared public policy goals, and an expectation of instrumental use of research-based evidence to address the priority problems on the educational policy agenda.
Work, Gender, and Statistics: Women's Economic Activity in the Province of Maule in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
This article reflects on female labor in Chile through the lens of statistics generated for a rural province, Maule, in the mid-19th century. It examines the dimensions of female labor and the early construction of categories to define it, as well as the distinctions made between productive activities and domestic work. The study also explores gender biases present in the sources from the period, which influenced the compilation of economic statistics and the visibility —or lack thereof— of these activities. The analysis illuminates a lesser-known phase of female labor integration and contributes to current debates by proposing an innovative intersection of perspectives that integrates economic history, labor history, and gender history.
The Adam Smith's Wage Fund Theory: A Mathematical Formulation
This paper puts forth a mathematical formalization of the wage fund theory presented by Adam Smith in his 1776 treatise, An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The fundamental tenets of Smith's wage fund theory are elucidated herein. The concept of the natural wage, which represents the focal point around which the market wage oscillates, is thus reaffirmed. It is demonstrated that the most pivotal notion pertaining to Smithian wage dynamics is situated in the divergence between the market wage and the natural wage, and in the potential for unemployment within the model as a fundamental mechanism of adjustment between the two (gravitation).
El acelerado programa participativo del proceso constituyente chileno de 2022
La política chilena está en una nueva encrucijada, después de haberse rechazado en dos ocasiones la propuesta de nueva Constitución escrita mediante mecanismos democráticos. Se ha hecho necesario encontrar explicaciones y alternativas al asunto. Los recientes aportes de las teorías de la aceleración social demuestran que la confección de constituciones en contextos democráticos son artefactos lentos, que tienden a desincronizarse de la alta velocidad que demuestra el ritmo de cambio social contemporáneo. Para aproximarse empíricamente a esta condición, en el caso chileno se empleó un análisis documental de archivos digitales de la convención constitucional relacionados con la conformación e implementación del programa de participación deliberativa del proceso. Los resultados indican que el plazo impuesto de 12 meses, y el diseño de un programa de participación maximalista, acabaron por someter las deliberaciones ciudadanas y entre representantes a un ritmo frenético, lo que hizo incompatible el surgimiento de diálogos masivos y reflexivos necesarios para nutrir de legitimidad el proceso. En consecuencia, se sugiere a la política navegar alternativas de larga duración que logren respetar la lentitud de toda formación de un proyecto de país mediante una carta magna en el futuro.
Determinants of Access to Information Requests: Analysis of the Municipalities of the Los Ríos Region, Chile
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have become a daily task for officials at all levels of government, thanks to the emergence of access to information laws in the last decade. However, we know little about variables that can explain why one municipality receives more applications than another. Starting from theoretical premises about transparency and access to public information, this article seeks to identify variables associated with the number of FOI requests to a municipality. To do this, a quantitative analysis is carried out, contrasting the number of FOI requests carried out in municipalities in the Los Ríos Region (Chile) with data on social, political, and administrative variables of these communes for eight consecutive years. The results indicate that compliance with active transparency requirements, political participation, and fiscal autonomy are associated with the number of information requests made to the municipalities studied. These results would be a first approach to the determinants of FOI requests at the municipal level and allow us to point out new lines of research for the future.
Towards a New Definition of Governance for Structural Change: Analysis of the Soybean Value Chain in Argentina
Governance is the central concept in the analysis of global value chains (GVC). However, attempts to draw policy recommendations for development from this approach assign it a secondary role. By integrating theoretical approaches, this article highlights the relevance of governance for the distribution of rents and productive dynamics in contemporary capitalism, considering the crucial role of knowledge in capital valorization. With these elements, the article provides a new definition of governance that encompasses aspects of coordination and command. The relevance of the new definition is illustrated with the case of the soybean value chain in Argentina. The findings highlight additional challenges for designing public policies aimed at structural change. On one hand, current frameworks present obstacles that must be overcome; on the other hand, industrial policy and science and technology policy need to be complemented with strategies and policies focused on fostering autonomous governance capacities.
Beyond the Vote: What Is Meant by Left and Right? The Ideological Identification of Voters in Latin America
This article reviews the development of the left-right notion and examines the extent to which voters position themselves on the ideological spectrum and consistently identify with its components. The methodological design includes the eighteen Latin American countries, whose observations are obtained from the Latinobarómetro database. A descriptive diachronic analysis of citizens’ ideological self-positioning is carried out, and, by means of a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and logistic (Logit) and linear (OLS) regression models, the theoretical assumptions are tested. The results show that three out of four individuals identify with these ideological positions. The study confirms that trust in the market economy, international financial institutions, globalization, relations with the United States, foreign investment, religion, education, age, and, to a lesser extent, privatizations help to predict the ideological identification of voters in the region. In Latin America, much of the literature has focused on studying the relevance and meaning of the left and right connotations from the perspective of political elites. However, this article aligns with and contributes to the limited empirical research on the study of this political phenomenon in the region from the perspective of the electorate.
The Lithium Value Chain as An Apportunity for Cross-Border Cooperation
The present article proposes to study the management of lithium from a subnational perspective, highlighting the potential of the territory for the development of a transborder value chain around the mineral. To do so, the lithium production models of Argentina and Chile, their strategies, common points, and differences are analyzed. The hypothesis guiding the research asserts that Argentina and Chile, states organized under federal and unitary models, respectively, have established two differentiated governance models for lithium production, although common interests related to promoting value-added generation stand out. In this context, transborder cooperation and the actions of subnational governments emerge as key elements for potential multilevel articulations that promote the development of a regional value chain around the mineral. The article adopts a qualitative methodological perspective based on a case study and a comparative approach to the lithium production models of Argentina and Chile, their strategies, common points, and differences. From a theoretical standpoint, concepts from the field of paradiplomacy and internationalization, as well as transborder international cooperation, are combined and articulated.
The Mayors on the Agenda: An Analysis of the Studies on Subnational Politics and Local Executives in Latin American Political Science Journals (2010-2022)
After decentralization reforms in Latin America, the prominence of local political actors, and mayor in particular, has increased significantly in the region. Their role is crucial in the analysis of diverse national and local political phenomena. However, is this importance reflected in the study of subnational politics in Latin America? We argue that the analysis of subnational politics and particularly mayors has received a scant attention in Latin American Political Science research. Examining the production of 28 journals published in or focusing on Latin America between 2010 and 2022, we show that —with ample variation between the journals— only 6,59% of the almost 8,000 reviews articles focus on subnational politics and only 0,79% study the role of mayors in local politics. Using empirical examples from recent studies, we show why these findings are disconcerting.
subnational turn in comparative politics
Think Tanks and Modernization of the State in Chile: Collaborative Work between the Centro de Estudios Públicos, Espacio Público, Chile 21 and Libertad y Desarrollo
The article examines the collaborative work between four think tanks, two from the center left (Espacio Público and Chile 21), and two from the right (Center for Public Studies and Freedom and Development), to promote the modernization agenda of the State in Chile in 2017. Using a qualitative approach that included the analysis of documents and, in addition, semi-structured interviews conducted with a participant from each center, the type of expert consensus reached and the capacity for influence and asymmetries of collaborative work in modernization agendas are analyzed of the centers. To this end, struggles and negotiations are exposed in the construction of expert knowledge, which affect the capacity for intervention, persuasion and the consolidation of the centers’ own positions in the field. It is concluded that the generation of an expert consensus, although it can facilitate the adoption of measures to implement these agreements as public policy, is not sufficient for their political adoption.
Could Private Education for the Poorest Help Close Educational Gaps and Achieve Social Mobility? The Case of Low-cost Universities in Peru
This study focuses on the growing role played by low-cost private universities in Peru and their potential to help close educational gaps and generate social mobility. Based on human capital theory, it analyzes how education influences skill formation and graduates’ earnings. Subsequently, we examine the educational gaps in access and quality that exist at different levels of education and restrict the returns to education to certain individuals depending on their socioeconomic level, area of residence (rural or urban) and the type of management (private or public) of the educational institution. In turn, the panorama of private universities in Peru is investigated, taking into account the context of the university reform initiated in 2014, with the creation of the National Superintendence of University Education (SUNEDU), and a classification of universities is proposed based on variables such as type of management, institutional licensing and level of costs. A total of 32 low-cost private universities with current licenses were identified, as opposed to 48 institutions that ceased operations due to quality deficiencies. A first result of the analysis indicates that the low-cost universities with corporate management generate higher returns than their associative counterparts, and that, for both cases, the return of these is double that of the high-cost universities. Moreover, a disaggregated analysis shows that the four universities with the highest returns include two corporate universities in the first two places and two associative universities in the second and, when comparing the returns in relation to the highest within the high-cost universities, the low-cost universities of the corporate type preponderate. In relation to the closing of gaps, both types of low-cost universities have the potential to promote greater Access to education in lower-income sectors and to equalize the cognitive skills of Young people, as the regulatory body guarantees compliance with minimum conditions of quality and achievement of competencies in the graduate profiles, and contrasts with those that ceased activities for not achieving institutional licensing.
Investment in R&D. Is It Enough to Increase Economic Growth? An Analysis through Dynamic Panel Data
This study examines the economic effects of expenses in research and technological development (R&D), both considered totally and differentiated by the nature of the financing among business, state, and higher education sectors. A panel of cross-sectio-nal data and time series was obtained, during the period 1980-2021, for a sample of 22 countries grouped according to income level, in advanced, emerging and developing economies. In order to provide a dynamic characterization in the short and long term, the autoregressive model of distributed lags approach is used, which uses the Pooled Mean Group estimator developed by Pesaran, Shin and Smith (1999). The results reveal a differentiation in the contribution of research activities to development; thus, the R&D expenditure carried out by companies and universities contributes significantly to economic growth in advanced economies; emerging economies have generated a positive association between scientific research and economic growth through the formal publications of their studies, while developing economies still do not show significant positive impact between R&D and its economic growth, despite the fact that conditional convergence is confirmed as predicted by the empirical growth literature.
Hydric Discussions and the Impact of Ideas on the Water Code Reform in Chile (2011-2022)
In 2022, the most comprehensive reform to the Chilean Water Code was enacted since its establishment in 1981. It incorporates a series of important changes in the way water resources are conceived in the country. This reform presents an interesting problem to investigate: on the one hand, the duration of its discussion (11 years) and its promulgation in the context of strong pressures to reject it is striking. On the other hand, various authors have questioned the degree of transformation of the changes made. This article aims to advance in these directions: analyze the factors that contributed to the enactment of the reform and evaluate the magnitude of the changes made. In particular, using the advocacy coalitions framework, the article analyzes the role of ideas in coalition formation and policy change and uses them as a reference to evaluate the degree of policy change. To do this, we elaborated a database from press articles and performed a qualitative content analysis to track changes in discourses over time. The article shows the existence of two coalitions with identifiable groups of ideas, which go through a learning process in which they incorporated fundamental elements of the contending coalition, thus facilitating policy change. It is argued, based on the above, that although there is an important change in this policy, it is not paradigmatic with respect to the statu quo.
Evaluating a Social Integration Policy Based on the Perceptions of Those Involved. A Case of Study in Northern Chile
Socio-urban segregation remains a relevant issue in Chile. Recent public policies have aimed to address access to housing, its quality, and social integration through the development of residential complexes with regulated proportions of social groups according to socioeconomic status to confront urban segregation. This article discusses a case of study involving a mixed-use building developed through a public “Social and Territorial Integration Program” (PIST) project in Chile’s Coquimbo Region using a parallel convergent mixed-method study. This design involved the simultaneous compilation of quantitative and qualitative data, which were subsequently integrated into the results. The quantitative stage involved a probabilistic survey of residents of the residential complex, while qualitative data were gathered through interviews with key local stakeholders. The findings highlight disparities in satisfaction based on socioeconomic group and reveal the emergence of functional segregation in accessing public and private services.
Conceptions of Sociology in Contemporary Constitutional Sociology
The goal of this article is to reflect on the conceptions of sociology that underpin some of the most interesting perspectives in what can be referred to contemporary constitutional sociology. Although it is not a unified program, its general orientation can be defined as an attempt to enquiry into the transformation of processes and structures with constitutional reach in contemporary modernity. The article begins by discussing the disciplinary claim that in my view is central to contemporary constitutional sociology and then compares it with the main aspects of the idea of philosophical sociology on which this author has been working in the past few years. I then discuss three main aspects that are key for both approaches: the problem of methodological nationalism, the foundation of their claim to universalism and, finally, the tension between descriptive and normative claims.
A peculiarity of social theory is that its object of study (society) includes those who carry out the research about it. This means that the regularities that theory establishes are not absolute, but historical. The article explores how this fundamental observation is displayed in classical sociological theory (Marx, Durkheim, Weber), and then it analyzes the suspicions that currently fall on social theory. In order to outline but also clear this suspicion, the paper differentiates between theoretical knowledge and data obtained from surveys, and then emphasizes the close relationship between social theory, history and criticism. The cases of Hayek and the founding book of Chilean neoliberalism El ladrillo are used to show that criticism is a characteristic of all social theory and not just of those of the left. These examples help distinguishing truth from theory and theory from ideology. The text concludes with an analysis of the ambiguous position of social theory today.
Las contradicciones culturales del neoliberalismo
This article explores the origins, characteristics, contradictions and different stages of historical application of neoliberalism, understood as a discursive strategy and practice shaped by the various currents of political and economic thought that have come together in its conformation. Taking as a starting point the program of ideas and action designed at the Mont Pèlerin society by thinkers from the Austrian School, the Chicago School and German Ordo-liberalism, the author reviews four phases of neoliberalism’s historical application in different formats and different parts of the world, as well as the vicissitudes that such application has brought in terms of political and economic praxis. In this regard, the author holds three key arguments: that neoliberalism is not a homogeneous school of thought; that its application has had several distinct phases; and finally that such application has shown various internal contradictions at the heart of its thought and praxis. Based on these three points, the article also attempts to show how some of the main causes of the crisis faced by neoliberalism in different times and countries can be found in the difficulties to maintain the complex and fragile balance that characterized the original neoliberal project.
Killing an Absent King. Symbolic Regicides during the Neogranadino Interregnum
In the years immediately preceding the arrival of Spanish troops in the New Kingdom of Granada, numerous symbolic executions of Ferdinand VII and his predecessors on the throne of Castile took place. Unfortunately, the documents available on the subject are extremely frugal. Using different types of sources and contrasting evidence of various kinds, this article examines the extent of the phenomenon and analyzes its meaning and importance. After demonstrating that the iconoclastic ceremonies were a phenomenon common to the whole neogranadino revolutionary geography, the text establishes the exact moment when they occurred. The hypothesis is that the regicides in paintings could only occur in the biennium 1815-1816, that is, after the declaration of Independence, the return of Ferdinand VII to the Spanish throne and the incorporation of the state of Cundinamarca to the United Provinces. Next, the article questions the relationship that links the murders of royal portraits in New Granada with the beheading of Louis XVI, suggesting that killing the monarch’s simulacrum was not only a sign of revolutionary radicalism, but also essential for the solid building of a republican order.
The Chilean Economic and Political Model: Institutional Development at the Crossroads
Chile can be characterized as a country having an economic and political model that over the last three decades has shown an important development in its main institutions, which has allow to sustain strong economic growth together with social progress and political stability. However, the strengthening of its institutions is the origin of the main weaknesses that threat the country, i.e. the social exclusion and the increasing inequality of opportunities. To sustain this hypothesis, this work focuses on five areas of the Chilean institutional development: economic reforms, social development, economic institutions, political institutions, and the subsequent business climate the country has built. The main conclusion brought up by this article is that, despite being considered as a successful project, the economic and political Chilean model has not reach complete legitimacy because it has not been able to guarantee legal certainty with social inclusion and equality of opportunities.
Conceptions of Political Steering and Problems of Political Governance
This article revises three theories of political steering: neoinstitutionalism, the actor-centered institutionalism, and the systemic theory of contextual steering. The analysis aims to answer the question of the quality of steering theories. After exploring neoinstitutionalism as a correction of behaviorism and rational choice theories, this paper studies the problems of the actor-centered institutionalism as a contemporary continuation of neoinstitutionalism. Subsequently, the article presents the foundations of the systemic theory of contextual steering and, as a conclusion, it clarifies why this theory allows a wider and more profound insight about the problems of political steering in modern complex societies.
Creating a Welfare State in an Authoritarian Regime: The Case of Brazil
This article details the origins and evolution of the Brazilian welfare system from the time of the Estado Novo of Getúlio Vargas through the military regimes of 1964-1985. Brazil’s case is fairly unusual in that its construction of the welfare state was created by non-democratic governments. This top down approach we argue responded to government needs to provide for a modern working class for a newly industrializing nation and to control popular protest and generate support. Yet for all its authoritarian origins and structure, much of the system which was created has survived into the post-military era, with only modest change of emphasis, and is today the basis for Brazil’s social welfare state.
The state in Latin America since Independence
This paper discusses the Latinamerican state, its nature and historical evolution. The first part provides theorical and conceptual approaches that help us when analysing the state; the second part describes the trajectory of the state in Latin America, using chronological frameworks from Independence until today.
The Four Tribunes. Ideas and Political Projects of Buenos Aires’ Federal Leaders during the Constituent Congress in the River Plate: 1824-1827
Manuel Dorrego, Pedro Sáenz de Cavia, José Ugarteche and Manuel Moreno created the Popular Party in Buenos Aires in 1823, and since then they worked politically as a team: they wrote in newspapers, were candidates in provincial and national elections, and as deputies to the constituent Congress led the minority Federal Party that consistently opposed proposals for centralization. This article analyzes their joint career as well as their stand as a group in various themes: Americanism, republicanism, warmongering, opposition to the aristocracy, the defense of a broad right to vote and representation of other interests of the common people. The main objective of this work is to determine what type of federalism they defended in the failed Congress of the 1820s: liberal and with a Jeffersonian spirit, with a weak central government over the provinces.
The Changing Aspect of Latin American Geopolitics Today
The international position of Latin America has significantly evolved over the past decades. This is due in part to the tendency within the sub-continent to form supranational alliances, particularly from the 1980s, and to joint international organizations originating from outside it. Furthermore, the United States’ commitments to areas beyond the Americas, namely the Middle East and more recently its re-focus on the Pacific area, has contributed to a diminution of its long-standing hegemony in Latin America. The entry of China into the Latin America sphere during the 2000s and continuing thereafter has introduced an entirely new factor into the political economy of the sub-continent. Latin America, however, represents only one aspect of Chinese foreign relations. It is doubtful that China aspires to a hegemony comparable to that which was exercised by the United States. It means, nevertheless, that the United States has now become a possibly welcome counterbalance to expanding Chinese interests.
Drugstore market in Chile: Spatial competition?
Competition in the Chilean drugstore market has been recently disputed, based on a price-fixing case involving the three major drugstore chains. However, firms also compete in other dimensions such as geographical location of stores. Using an original dataset, this paper describes the geographical distribution of the three major pharmacy chains’ stores at national, regional and municipal level. The results show that: i) drugstores tend to agglomerate in certain geographical areas; ii) there are many municipalities in which the three main drugstore chains do not have a single store and; iii) one of the firms (Cruz Verde) has a location strategy different from its competitors. The goal of the paper is to describe the national drugstore market, understood as a first step to identify the way in which firms do (or do not) compete by location, as well as its implications for consumers.
Design and Implementation of the First Perception Survey Quality of Prison Life in Chile: Proposals and Challenges for the Prison System
Imprisonment is imposed over an individual as a result of a severe offense against society. This severe restriction has been established as punishment not for punishment, which means that the only right that is suspended has to do with freedom of movement. A variety of international agreements has reaffirmed this principle and emphasized that prisons should respect inmates’ human dignity and promote their social reintegration. Nevertheless, serving a sentence in Chilean prisons has become a form of continuous punishment that extends far beyond the mere deprivation of liberty. Indeed, Chilean prisons have been criticized for their levels of overcrowding, lack of access to rehabilitative programs, and for their levels of mistreatment towards (and between) inmates. Despite the fact that there have been previous reports on prison conditions in Chile, they have not followed a systematic approach nor have offered a detailed description by areas of interest. As a result, there have been few evidence-based reference points for policy makers or prison administrators to improve prisons nationwide. Following a request from the Chilean Bureau of Prisons [Gendarmería de Chile, in Spanish], through its Unit for Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, the author of this article designed and implemented the First National Survey on Inmates’ Perception of Quality of Life, conducted in 2013, which surveyed 2,093 incarcerated individuals from 75 prisons nationwide; inmates were selected based on a stratified-random sampling strategy. The results show a deteriorated perception not only in terms of prison infrastructure but also regarding different abusive practices, including mistreatment by guards, inmate-on-inmate violence and lack of rehabilitative programs.