We present a novel series of Chilean top‐income shares covering half a century, mainly based on income‐tax declarations and the National Accounts. Such a time frame of analysis is still rare in the literature of developing countries. We distinguish between a fiscal‐income series (1964–2017) and an adjusted series (1990–2017). The former covers individual income, while the latter also includes corporate undistributed profits, which affects both levels and trends. The fiscal‐income estimates start with low levels and a decreasing trend over the 1960s. They then increase rapidly during the dictatorship years (1973–89). The series ends with a high, yet slowly decreasing, concentration for most of the recent democratic period (1990–2017). By contrast, the adjusted series has followed a U‐shape since the return of democracy, contradicting the established consensus on falling inequality over the period. Furthermore, Chile ranks among the most unequal countries in both the OECD and Latin American countries over the period.

La idea de meritocracia está relacionada con la distribución de bienes y beneficios basada en el talento y esfuerzo individual, constituyendo un principio que legitima la distribución desigual de los recursos en sociedades modernas. Pese a las constantes referencias a la meritocracia en la investigación de desigualdad y estratificación social en sociología, existen pocos intentos conceptuales y empíricos que busquen entender hasta qué punto los individuos perciben y prefieren la meritocracia, así como también sus consecuencias. La presente investigación propone un marco conceptual y empírico para el estudio de las percepciones y preferencias meritocráticas que, posteriormente, es relacionado con una serie de variables relativas a la desigualdad social. Utilizando datos de la encuesta chilena “Justicia social y participación ciudadana” (N= 1.245), los resultados del análisis sugieren que las preferencias y percepciones de la meritocracia son constructos distintos y que quienes perciben un adecuado funcionamiento de la meritocracia también perciben menos desigualdad social.

Este artículo estudia los aprendizajes y desafíos que se desprendende la investigación empírica sobre élites en Chile en las últimas dos décadas, con énfasis en la élite económica. Utilizando doce entrevistas semiestructuradas a expertos que han investigado a este grupo en Chile y una operacionalización específica para diferenciar los criterios y prioridades de cada investigador,los resultados sistematizan los fundamentos para optar por el concepto de élitepor sobre otros (como clase dominante o aristocracia), las estrategias para definir el universo y muestra, y las dificultades de este tipo de estudios. Los resultados contribuyen al análisis reflexivo sobre las formas en que las élites contemporáneas son estudiadas, a lo que se añaden también desafíos pendientes y líneas de investigación a futuro que vinculen esta área con otros fenómenos de relevancia para la vida social.

We analyze economic elites’ perceptions and beliefs about meritocracy from a moral economy perspective. A moral economy perspective considers how norms and beliefs structure socioeconomic practices through the constitution and expression of what is considered acceptable, proper, and legitimate. Our study explores how economic elites make sense of the roles of talent and effort in the distribution of resources and how they reconcile the idea of meritocracy within a rigid social order. The site of our study is Chile, a country with fluid mobility between low and middle classes, but with high and persistent disparities and strong barriers to elite positions. We conducted 44 semistructured interviews with shareholders, board members, and high-level executives of large or high-turnover companies in three major Chilean cities. We find that the economic elite strongly support meritocracy but explain access to top positions based on talent rather than effort. The economic elite define talent in terms of business and leadership skills. They attribute upward mobility in the private sector to meritocratic practice. At the same time, they view the public sector as the epitome of nonmeritocratic practices, incompetence, and inefficiency. They profess empathy with the poor, but they reject redistributive policies. The economic elite believe in the primacy of competition in economic life and the necessity of continual economic growth, and thus, they understand meritocracy as both the means to survive in a market economy and a responsible approach to lead national development.

Socio-natural disasters remain underexplored events in economic history, even though they stress societies in several ways and are known for their relationship with institutional change. In this paper, we explore this issue showing that major earthquakes in Chile have become a window of opportunity for important fiscal reforms. Our findings indicate that there are two mechanisms to explain this relationship: first, reconstruction demands greater state expenditure and intervention; and second, the emergence of narratives that justify these reforms, such as patriotism and solidarity. However, data show that in the case of Chile, changes following disasters have had little impact on the overall tax structure of the country, and the historical preference for indirect taxes has been maintained, with limited power to impose taxes on high-income groups.