In 2000...
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
for 15-20 years, third world in military terms at least, meant the signatory of NAM movement. fourth world was anyone left after that.