The debt of democracy and its crisis in the social outbreak of october. Prices, salaries and unpaid debt in Chile

Abstract

This work approaches the dynamics of prices, salaries and unpaid debt of families as an explanation to the economic dimension of the social crisis. Although Chile has shown solid macroeconomic fundamentals during the last thirty years, these have hidden important troubles for families such as price rises for sensitive goods and services for the population, stagnant wages, one of the most unequal income distributions in the world, a heterogeneous labor market and the rampant growth of unpaid debt of those over eighteen years old. It is argued that these economic dissatisfactions have put Chilean families, especially the most vulnerable and the middle class, in distress, who demand a change in the development model.