About

Sebastian Edwards is the Henry Ford II Chair in International Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He has served as the chief economist for the Latin America and Caribbean region of the World Bank from 1993 until April 1996. Edwards is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a member of the advisory board of Transnational Research Corporation, and co-chairman of the Inter-American Seminar on Economics (IASE). He is the past president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Kiel Institute of World Economics in Germany. In September 2004, he was appointed to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Council of Economic Advisors. Edwards has been a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and has authored over 200 scientific articles on international economics, macroeconomics, and economic development, with his work frequently quoted in major media outlets. His research areas include capital markets, consumer price index, currency crises, emerging markets, inflation, and Latin American economic issues. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago and has published numerous books and articles on economic policy and development.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Economics
• Law
• Economic history
• Monetary economics
• History
• Finance
• Political economy
• Market economy
• Macroeconomics
• Medicine
• Development economics
• Keynesian economics
• International economics

Selected publications

• Credibility and precommitment in socialist constitutionalism: Allende’s Chile, 1972

  Constitutional Political Economy · 2026-05-14

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Expropriation Without Compensation: Copper in Chile, 1970-1973

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2025-03-01

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this essay, I analyze the nationalization of large copper mines during Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile in the 1970s.This is one of the earliest cases "nationalization without compensation."Chile's legal argument was based on the novel idea that "adequate" payment should be calculated as book value minus "excessive profits."In turn, excessive profits were defined, for every year, as profits above 12% of book value.I analyze the economic arguments that led to nationalization, and I deconstruct and critically evaluate the methodology used to calculate "excessive profits" and "adequate compensation."I analyze the US and multinationals' response to Chile's nationalization policies.

  PublisherDOI

• Expropriation Without Compensation: Copper in Chile, 1970-1973

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Expropriation Without Compensation: Copper in Chile, 1970–1973

  World Economy · 2025-03-11 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT In this essay, I analyse the nationalisation of large copper mines during Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile in the 1970s. This is one of the earliest cases ‘nationalization without compensation’. Chile's legal argument was based on the novel idea that ‘adequate’ payment should be calculated as book value minus ‘excessive profits’. In turn, excessive profits were defined, for every year, as profits above 12% of book value. I analyse the economic arguments that led to nationalisation, and I deconstruct and critically evaluate the methodology used to calculate ‘excessive profits’ and ‘adequate compensation’. I analyse the US and multinationals' response to Chile's nationalisation policies. JEL Classification: B22, E52, E58, F31, F33.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXCHANGE RATE ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: 1892–1992

  Journal of the History of Economic Thought · 2024-04-25

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper I analyze the work on exchange rates and external imbalances by University of Chicago faculty members during the university’s first 100 years, 1892 to 1992. Many people associate Chicago’s views with Milton Friedman’s advocacy for flexible exchange rates. But, of course, there was much more than that, including the work of J. Laurence Laughlin on bimetallism, Jacob Viner on the balance of payments, Lloyd Metzler on transfers, Harry Johnson on trade and currencies, Lloyd Mints on exchange rate regimes, Robert Mundell on optimal currency areas, and Arnold Harberger on shadow exchange rates, among others. The analysis shows that, although different scholars emphasized different issues, there was a common thread in this research, anchored on the role of relative prices’ changes during the adjustment process.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction to the Special Issue

  Estudios de economía · 2024-12-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Inflation and the Corruption of Currency in Latin America: Chile, 1970–1973

  Journal of Policy History · 2024-10-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract In this article I analyze Salvador Allende’s economic program and policies. I argue that the explosion of inflation during his administration (above 1,500% on a six-month annualized measure) was predictable, and I show that the government’s response to it was political. I postulate that runaway inflation generated major disaffection among the middle class and that that unhappiness paved the way to Pinochet’s coup d’état in 1973.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Runaway Inflation in Chile, 1970-1973

  Estudios de economía · 2024-12-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this essay, I argue that the explosion of inflation during the Salvador Allende administration in Chile (above 1,500% on a six-month annualized measure) was predictable.The government's use of massive and strict price controls generated acute macroeconomic imbalances.I postulate that the combination of runaway inflation, shortages, and black markets generated major hostility among the middle class and that that unhappiness reduced the support for the Unidad Popular government.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXCHANGE RATE ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: 1892-1992

  2024-02-16 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this paper I analyze the work on exchange rates and external imbalances by University of Chicago faculty members during the university’s first hundred years, 1892-1992. Many people associate Chicago’s views with Milton Friedman’s advocacy for flexible exchange rates. But, of course, there was much more than that, including the work of J. Laurence Laughlin on bimetallism, Jacob Viner on the balance of payments, Lloyd Metzler on transfers, Harry Johnson on trade and currencies, Lloyd Mints on exchange rate regimes, Robert Mundell on optimal currency areas, and Arnold Harberger on shadow exchange rates, among other. The analysis shows that, although different scholars emphasized different issues, there was a common thread in this research, anchored on the role of relative prices’ changes during the adjustment process.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Introduction to the Special Issue

  Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scientific Electronic Library Online) · 2024-12-01

  otherOpen accessSenior author
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Alejandra Cox Edwards

  29 shared

• Simon Johnson

  New School

  24 shared

• David Weil

  24 shared

• Rodrigo Valdés

  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

  23 shared

• José De Gregorio

  University of Chile

  23 shared

• Rüdiger Dornbusch

  21 shared

• Joshua Aizenman

  University of Southern California

  19 shared

• Daniel Riera‐Crichton

  19 shared

Education

• Ph.d, Economics

  University of Chicago

  1982

• M.A, Economics

  University of Chicago

  1978

Awards & honors

• Henry Ford II Chair in International Management
• Past president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic…
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Kiel Instit…
• Appointed to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cou…