science

Hernán Büchi

Hernán Büchi is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hernán Büchi rather than just read about it. In short: Hernán Alberto Büchi Buc (Latin American Spanish: [eɾˈnan alˈβeɾto ˈβixi ˈβuk]; born March 6, 1949) is a Chilean economist who served as minister of finance of the Military government of Chile (1973–90). In 1989 he ran unsuccessfully for president with support of Chilean right-wing parties.

Key takeaways

Hernán Büchi belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hernán Büchi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hernán Büchi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hernán Alberto Büchi Buc (Latin American Spanish: [eɾˈnan alˈβeɾto ˈβixi ˈβuk]; born March 6, 1949) is a Chilean economist who served as minister of finance of the Military government of Chile (1973–90). In 1989 he ran unsuccessfully for president with support of Chilean right-wing parties.

Early life Büchi was born into a Roman Catholic family of Swiss, German and Croatian descent who settled in Iquique. He studied at Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera of Santiago. After receiving a diploma in mining at the University of Chile he went to the U.S. and earned an MBA from Columbia University in 1975. Despite this fact, he is often mentioned together with the Chicago Boys who studied economics at the University of Chicago, because he represents similar neoliberal market positions. In 1975, Hernán Büchi began as a consultant of the Secretary of Economics, Pablo Baraona, and as a chair of the board of directors of the state-owned sugar refiner Industria Azucarera Nacional. In 1978, he joined the board of the state-owned telephone company Compañía de Teléfonos.

Career under Pinochet In 1979 he became Vice-Secretary of Economics (1979–1980) for the ministry of treasury. He worked with the Minister for Labor and Social Security José Piñera, who started the private pension system in Chile. In 1981 he was appointed Vice-Secretary of Health (1980–1983) where he prepared the privatization of health insurance. During the 1983 / 1984 recession in Chile he became Minister of Planning (1983–1984) (ODEPLAN) and Superintendent of Banks and Financial Institutions (1984–1985). He was Minister of Finance (the Treasury) between 1985 and 1989 and returned to the principles of monetarism. Büchi's appointment as finance minister, according to British historian Edwin Williamson:

...marked the beginning of economic recovery. Büchi's strategy was to create the financial conditions for stable, export-led growth and to reorganize the productive structures of the export sector. Control of public spending, periodic devaluations, and incentives for domestic savings, foreign investment and the repatriation of capital gradually brought inflation down to 12 per cent by 1989, the lowest rate in Latin America. A vigorous campaign to sell parcels of the public debt to private investors in exchange for shares in Chilean industries reduced the nation's debt burden by over $4 billion...Economic growth averaged between 5 per cent and 6 per cent in 1985-8, the highest rate in the region. After Pinochet stepped down in 1990, Büchi founded the "Liberty and Development Institute" (Libertad y Desarrollo), where he currently is the chairman of the "International Economy Center Council" and a consultant. It has been funded by The Tinker Foundation, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Center for International Private Enterprise, and the German Hanns Seidel Foundation per its website. Since 1990 he has been an adviser in several government bodies in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. He has been a chairman and/or member of the board of several public companies.

Presidential Candidate (1989) During the 1989 Chilean presidential election Büchi stood for the right-wing Democracy and Progress Party and Unión Demócrata Independiente but was also supported by Renovación Nacional and Democracia Radical. Büchi's campaign hired a former public relations adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Timothy Bell. Büchi came in second with 2,051,975 votes (29.40%) after Patricio Aylwin with 55.2%. However he "received more support from women than men in 59 of the 60 electoral districts, the exception being in southernmost district of Magallanes, where his support was about equal between the sexes".

1994 until present

Since 1994 Büchi has been the chair of the board of directors the Chilean food company Lucchetti, which was owned by the late Andrónico Luksic and his Luksic group, Chile's first multinational corporation, where Büchi holds further positions. Lucchetti was acquired by Tresmontes, and Tresmontes Lucchetti S.A. was bought by Grupo Nutresa S.A. in October 2013. Büchi has also been chair of the board of directors of the Chilean Mining Company, an advisor to the board of directors of Banco de Chile since 2008, with an annual compensation of 79,900,000 CLP (2014 USD 143,000), a chairman of the Directive Council of Universidad del Desarrollo, and Adviser to the Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo. He has acted as member of the board of directors of the large holding company Quiñenco S.A. and Consorcio Nacional de Seguros, which is a large Chilean insurance company, and Falabella S.A.

Books In 1993, Büchi detailed his experience as Minister of the Treasury of Chile during 1985–1989, in a book called "The Economic Transformation of Chile: A Personal Account", where he discusses the liberalization of the Chilean economy, and the role he played in it. It was translated into English in 2009.

See also Crisis of 1982 El ladrillo Sergio de Castro (economist) Chicago Boys

Notes

External links The Tinker Foundation http://www.tinker.org Media related to Hernán Büchi at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hernán Büchi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hernán Büchi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hernán Büchi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hernán Büchi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hernán Büchi

In research: Hernán Büchi appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hernán Büchi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hernán Büchi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1949 births, Augusto Pinochet cabinet ministers, Candidates for President of Chile, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hernán Büchi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hernán Büchi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hernán Büchi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hernán Büchi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hernán Büchi in simple terms?

Why does Hernán Büchi matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hernán Büchi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hernán Büchi.