Juan Andrés Fontaine Talavera is an economist who was Chilean Minister for the Economy, Development, and Reconstruction under President

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...

Biography

Juan Andrés Fontaine Talavera was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

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 ...

. He is the son of Arturo Fontaine Aldunate, who was director of

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

from 1978 to 1982 and has a brother named Arturo Fontaine Talavera. He received a B.A. in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

(Ingeniero Comercial, Licenciado en Economía) from

Universidad Católica de Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univers ...

and an M.A. from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Fontaine supported the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état () was a military overthrow of the democratic socialist president of Chile Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity (Chile), Popular Unity coalition government. Allende, who has been described as the first Marxist ...

, saying that it was less horrible for the country. In the 1970s, he was deputy editor of the influential opinion magazine "Economía y Sociedad", founded and edited by José Piñera. In the 1980s he served as Director of Research at the

Central Bank of Chile The Central Bank of Chile () is the central bank of Chile. It was established in 1925 and is incorporated into the current Chilean Constitution as an autonomous institution of constitutional rank. Its monetary policy is currently guided by an infl ...

and as a visiting professor at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He was also formerly a partner and chief executive of "Fontaine & Paúl Consultores", a financial consultant firm in Chile, which he stopped doing when he became Minister of Economy from 2010 to 2011. Currently, he is a member of the "Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo", a Chilean think tank founded by

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

and an economic adviser to several corporations and banks. He has been an economic advisor to various Chilean presidential candidates, columnist in Chilean newspapers and speaker in conferences on Chilean and Latin American economies. Fontaine is a professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and authored several publications. He taught for a decade at his alma mater. and 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Juan Andres Living people University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Chile Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Government ministers of Chile Year of birth missing (living people) Ministers of public works of Chile