EXCHANGE CONTROLS IN CHILE AFTER THE GREAT DEPRESSION: THE ROLE OF CONDECOR AND ITS MODUS OPERANDI, C.1942-1952

Abstract

This article addresses the policy of exchange controls implemented by Chile from 1931 through to the mid-1950s in the face of the balance of payments crisis triggered by the Great Depression. In particular, it analyzes the role played by the Foreign Trade Council (CONDECOR), a state institution created in 1942 to implement exchange rate and currency controls and establish import quotas and licenses and export permits. Although the exchange controls applied by Chile are understood in broad terms, little or nothing was known about the modus operandi of this public institution. For the first time, we accessed the minutes of the meetings of CONDECOR’s board in 1942-1952, revealing how CONDECOR worked, its main players and how contemporaries evaluated this Chilean public institution. The study also shows the conflicts between bureaucratic structures that existed about the delimitation of the foreign trade and exchange control policies set out by the government.