[aortega]

2013 Argentinian here. To buy a house right now you usually have to pay dollars cash because nobody accepts a currency that devaluates 25% per year.

The political class here is crazy corrupt and rich like in every third world country, and they are known for using piles of 500 euros bills to stay out of the bank system because euros have more wealth density than dollars.

[nico]

I'm a little offended by the "like in every third world country" statement. Chile is not like that at all, and we are a third world country.

In fact, here we are ranked right under (20th) the US (19th) in terms of transparency:

http://www.transparency.org/country#CHL http://www.transparency.org/country#USA_DataResearch

Argentina is ranked 102: http://www.transparency.org/country#ARG_DataResearch

In all of Latin America, the closest countries to Chile in that transparency ranking are Costa Rica, with the 48th place, then Cuba 58th and then Brazil 69th.

Edit: added justification data with links / I'm proud of Chile

[derefr]

Chile will probably stop being third-world soon enough, though (I heard something about startup accelerators popping up there?)

There should be a term for "third-world country that's probably going to stay third-world for the forseeable future, excepting a revolutionary change of government." Maybe... dystopia? Argentina is a dystopia.

[nico]

Checkout http://startupchile.org they've made a lot of noise. There are quite a few cool (and successful) companies that have come out of there. My two favorites: Padlet (padlet.com) and Admetricks (admetricks.com). Padlet was also in YC and Imagine K-12 (after StartupChile)

[gametheoretic]

USA and allies: 1st-world; Soviets and allies: 2nd-world; all others: 3rd-world.

[aortega]

>Chile will probably stop being third-world soon enough

Sorry, I don't think so. Chile is doing good nowadays but basically their only export is copper. Copper is a semi-precious metal right now and thats why that country suddenly has so much wealth, but the difference between rich and poor is abysmal and their economy is tied to the price a single non-renewable resource.

Compared to Chile, Argentina still has a huge tech industry capable of exporting value-added products like cars.

[nationcrafting]

Chile is in the top-10 freest countries in the world right now, alongside Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and other economic successes. Taxes are low, and there are huge incentives for people to start their own businesses. You can register a new business in 3 days, and registering trademarks is one of simplest processes in the world. This is in very sharp contrast to Argentina.

Yes, copper is selling very well, and it takes up a large proportion of the country's exports, but you are mistaken to think that this is the driving cause of the country's increase in wealth over the last 20 years.

The increase in wealth comes from the fact that incentives now exist for people to create wealth. Where wealth is created, there is more wealth. It's the same principle we have seen working throughout history.

[aortega]

Check out this graphic http://atlas.media.mit.edu/explore/tree_map/export/chl/all/s...

[vinceguidry]

"Third-world" is a loaded term and doesn't really have a useful definition anymore.

[nico]

You are right, just like developed country. Your comment reminded me of this very interesting video that compares the US, Cuba and Chile: http://www.gapminder.org/videos/gapmindervideos/gapcast-6-ch...

[rikacomet]

not exactly.. there was a proper term.. fourth world as well.

for 15-20 years, third world in military terms at least, meant the signatory of NAM movement. fourth world was anyone left after that.

[jpmc]

The other big issue is how hard it is to exchange pesos for dollars. The government is doing all they can to make it nearly impossible for the average Argentinian to avoid the massive devaluation.