Luis Larraín Arroyo

Luis Alberto Larraín Arroyo^[1] (born 4 April 1956) is a Chilean economist, academic and politician.

He served as Minister Director of the National Planning Office between 1989 and 1990 during the military regime of Augusto Pinochet. He is currently the chairman of the Advisory Council of the Libertad y Desarrollo Institute (LyD).

Biography

Larraín was born in Santiago, the third of seven children of Luis Larraín Marín and María Teresa Arroyo Correa. He studied at Saint George's College in Santiago.^[2]

In 1974, he entered the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile to study economy, later obtaining a degree in economics. While still a student, he was invited by José Piñera to collaborate on the magazine Economía y Sociedad.^[2]

When Piñera was appointed Minister of Labor in 1978 during the military regime, Larraín joined as a ministerial adviser and was later appointed Superintendent of Social Security.^[3]

During his administration, the family subsidy (subsidio único familiar) was created to counteract unemployment during the early-1980s economic crisis.^[2]

After leaving public service in 1985, he joined the private sector, participating in the supermarket chain Unimarc. When the Chicago Boys returned to economic administration, he was invited to join the National Planning Office (Odeplan).^[2]

He became Deputy Director and, in mid-1989, was appointed Minister Director of the National Planning Office (Odeplan), succeeding Sergio Melnick. He held the post until 11 March 1990, when he handed it over to Sergio Molina, thus becoming the last minister of that office appointed by the Military Junta.

After leaving government, he co-founded—along with Hernán Büchi and Cristián Larroulet—the Libertad y Desarrollo Institute, a liberal economic think tank, where he later became executive director.

He has taught university courses in microeconomics, economic policy, and international trade at various Chilean universities, and served two years as director of the School of Business Administration at the Andrés Bello National University.^[2]

He has also published articles on poverty, privatization, and the role of the State, and is a regular columnist for the newspaper El Mercurio.^[2]

On 16 April 2014, Larraín assumed the presidency of Cruzados SADP, a corporation managing the football club Club Deportivo Universidad Católica; he served until resigning on 25 July 2016, when he was succeeded by Juan Tagle.^[2]