Nicolás Eyzaguirre Guzmán (born 3 January 1953 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 ...

) 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 ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, and the former Minister of Education of his country. Previously, he was Chile's Minister of Finance between 2000 and 2006. He is the son of architect Joaquín Eyzaguirre and actress Delfina Guzmán.

Early life and studies

Eyzaguirre received his secondary education at the elite Colegio Verbo Divino private school. A music enthusiast, at the age of 15 he was admitted to 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.

Conservatory to study

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

, being lured by the

Nueva canción (European , ; 'new song') is a left-wing social movement and musical genre in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, characterized by folk music, folk-inspired styles and socially committed lyrics. is widely recognized to have played a profou ...

movement. With his brother, Joaquín, he was part was of the folk group ''Aquelarre'', playing titles such as, ''El cautivo de Tiltil'' and ''Valparaíso''. Eyzaguirre began his career in

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

as a member of the Christian Democrat Party, and then migrated to the Christian Left Party and then to the Communist Party, where he stayed until his departure to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He graduated as a Commercial Engineer with a mention in economics 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.

, and obtained his master's degree in economics from the same university, specializing in economic development.

Career

Rising as scholar

Later, he traveled to the United States to obtain a doctorate in macroeconomics and international trade from the

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, which he never completed. Eyzaguirre changed his view of economics during his time at Harvard. He later admitted to having been mistaken in his Communist ideology, and that adopting the principles of the free market was more sound and rational. Back in Chile, Eyzaguirre became acquainted with and befriended

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

, with whom he later joined the Party for Democracy, his current party affiliation. Between 1984 and 1985, he worked as an international consultant and adviser to the International Monetary Fund. Later, between 1985 and 1990, he worked as an expert in Monetary and Financial Policy for Latin America at CEPAL. After the return of democracy, he performed senior roles at the Central Bank of Chile between 1990 and 1997, occupying the positions of Director of Research and Chief Economist.

Political career

On 11 March 2000, he took the oath as Minister of Finance in the government of

. The Lagos government's policy was to perpetuate and perfect Chile's free market economy by drawing lessons for the Asian crisis, which had left Chile with persistently high unemployment and low growth. It balanced the fiscal accounts and implemented a fiscal rule based on the structural balance, which strengthened the fiscal position and contributed to inflation reaching historical lows. The increased macroeconomic stability fostered a return to better economic performance, with growth reaching 6% by 2004. Eyzaguirre's six-year term makes him the longest-serving Minister of Finance in the history of Chile. Under his tenure the state owned mining company,

Codelco The National Copper Corporation of Chile (), abbreviated as Codelco, is a Chilean state-owned mining company and the largest copper mining company in the world. It was formed in 1976 from foreign-owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1 ...

, closed copper forward trades with the Chinese government. Those transactions generated losses of almost US$5.0 bn for the Chilean government. The internal revenue service of

(SII) questioned de operations because copper was sold at an average of usd1,16 per pound, while in the London Exchange was trading at US$3,87.Mostrador Mercados (Santiago), june 12th, 2014
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/ref>Chamber of Deputies Investigation Report, November 10th, 2014
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Views on economics and political positions

The concept of

extractivism Extractivism is the removal of natural resources particularly for export with minimal processing. This economic model is common throughout the Global South and the Arctic region, but also happens in some sacrifice zones in the Global North in Eu ...

has been criticized by Eyzaguirre, who cites the mining sector of Australia as a successful example of a "deep and sophisticated

value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a business or firm performs in order to deliver goods and services of Value (economics), value to an end customer. The concept comes from the field of business management and was first described ...

", with high human capital, self-produced machinery and associated top-tier scientific research. For the case of

Eyzaguirre argue that rentierism and not extractivism should be concept of concern. Eyzaguirre supported the proposed new political constitution in the 2022 Chilean national plebiscite.

References

External links

*
Profile
on the Ministry of Education of Chile website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyzaguirre, Nicolas 1953 births Living people Politicians from Santiago, Chile Chilean people of Basque descent Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians Christian Left (Chile) politicians Communist Party of Chile politicians Party for Democracy (Chile) politicians Chilean former marxists Ministers of finance of Chile 20th-century Chilean economists Colegio del Verbo Divino alumni Candidates for President of Chile Ministers of education of Chile Chilean Ministers Secretary General of the Presidency 21st-century Chilean economists University of Chile alumni