Oligarchy, Material Power and Power Resources in Chile, 2010-2020

Abstract

This paper makes visible the extreme material inequality and its potential importance as a source of extreme political inequality in Chile during the period 2010-2020. It estimates the oligarchic scale, the oligarchic intensity and the material power index, indicators that provide comparable information on the proportion of total material endowments concentrated in the oligarchs, as well as the relative material power of the oligarchs compared to the average population. In addition, this paper explores the power resources of the main oligarchs. This way, it seeks to explore how material power has evolved in Chile over the last decade, who concentrates it and what political advantages it has brought to them. The main findings are: material inequality in Chile has remained stably high over the last decade, particularly during the governments of the center-right coalition; Chile’s main oligarchs have prioritized certain power resources over others, and have opted for certain mechanisms to strengthen their relations with political decision-makers.