Hernán Alberto Büchi Buc (; born March 6, 1949) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an economist who served as minister of finance of the Pinochet dictatorship. In 1989 he ran unsuccessfully for president with support of Chilean right-wing parties.

Early life

Büchi was born into a

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family of

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

, German and Croatian descent who settled in

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

. He studied at Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera of Santiago. After receiving a diploma in mining at the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

he went to the U.S. and earned an MBA from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1975. Despite this fact, he is often mentioned together with the Chicago Boys who studied economics at the University of Chicago, because he represents similar neoliberal market positions. In 1975, Hernán Büchi began as a consultant of the Secretary of Economics, Pablo Baraona, and as a chair of the board of directors of the state-owned sugar refiner ''Industria Azucarera Nacional''. In 1978, he joined the board of the state-owned telephone company ''Compañía de Teléfonos''.

Career under Pinochet

In 1979 he became Vice-Secretary of Economics (1979–1980) for the ministry of treasury. He worked with the Minister for Labor and Social Security José Piñera, who started the private pension system in Chile. In 1981 he was appointed Vice-Secretary of Health (1980–1983) where he prepared the privatization of health insurance. During the 1983 / 1984 recession in Chile he became Minister of Planning (1983–1984) (ODEPLAN) and Superintendent of Banks and Financial Institutions (1984–1985). He was Minister of Finance (the Treasury) between 1985 and 1989 and returned to the principles of

monetarism Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetar ...

. Büchi's appointment as finance minister, according to British historian Edwin Williamson:

...marked the beginning of economic recovery. Büchi's strategy was to create the financial conditions for stable, export-led growth and to reorganize the productive structures of the export sector. Control of public spending, periodic devaluations, and incentives for domestic savings, foreign investment and the repatriation of capital gradually brought inflation down to 12 per cent by 1989, the lowest rate in Latin America. A vigorous campaign to sell parcels of the public debt to private investors in exchange for shares in Chilean industries reduced the nation's debt burden by over $4 billion...Economic growth averaged between 5 per cent and 6 per cent in 1985-8, the highest rate in the region.

After Pinochet stepped down in 1990, Büchi founded the "Liberty and Development Institute" (Libertad y Desarrollo), where he currently is the chairman of the "International Economy Center Council" and a consultant. It has been funded by The Tinker Foundation, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Center for International Private Enterprise, and the German Hanns Seidel Foundation per its website. Since 1990 he has been an adviser in several government bodies in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. He has been a chairman and/or member of the board of several public companies.

Presidential Candidate 1989

During the 1989 Chilean presidential election Büchi stood for the right-wing

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and Unión Demócrata Independiente but was also supported by '' Renovación Nacional'' and '' Democracia Radical''. Büchi's campaign hired a former public relations adviser to former British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, Timothy Bell. Büchi came in second with 2,051,975 votes (29.40%) after

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the 30th president of Chil ...

with 55.2%. However he "received more support from women than men in 59 of the 60 electoral districts, the exception being in southernmost district of Magallanes, where his support was about equal between the sexes".

1994 until present

Since 1994 Büchi has been the chair of the board of directors the Chilean food company Lucchetti, which was owned by the late Andrónico Luksic and his Luksic group, Chile's first multinational corporation, where Büchi holds further positions. Lucchetti was acquired by Tresmontes, and Tresmontes Lucchetti S.A. was bought by Grupo Nutresa S.A. in October 2013. Büchi has also been chair of the board of directors of the Chilean Mining Company, an advisor to the board of directors of Banco de Chile since 2008, with an annual compensation of 79,900,000 CLP (2014 USD 143,000), a chairman of the Directive Council of Universidad del Desarrollo, and Adviser to the Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo. He has acted as member of the board of directors of the large

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Quiñenco S.A. and Consorcio Nacional de Seguros, which is a large Chilean insurance company, and Falabella S.A.

Books

In 1993, Büchi detailed his experience as Minister of the Treasury of Chile during 1985–1989, in a book called "The Economic Transformation of Chile: A Personal Account", where he discusses the liberalization of the Chilean economy, and the role he played in it. It was translated into English in 2009.

Notes

External links

*The Tinker Foundation http://www.tinker.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchi, Hernan 1949 births Living people Ministers of the military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) Independent Democratic Union politicians Candidates for President of Chile Chilean people of Swiss-German descent Chilean people of German descent Chilean people of Croatian descent Chilean Roman Catholics Ministers of finance of Chile Columbia Business School alumni Member of the Mont Pelerin Society Chilean newspaper founders