Behind the cascade: the role of legal institutions in market structure in Chile

Abstract

This paper proposes that research on the phenomenon of corporate groups in Chile presents blind spots that can be complemented by legal analysis of the institutions that structure the Chilean corporate market. The legal analysis demonstrates how the detailed design and understanding of certain legal institutions crucial to the functioning and persistence of business groups reinforces some of the economic and political theses on economic groups in the country. The paper concludes that there are various regulatory avenues to attenuate or end the preponderance of business groups in the Chilean economy and contributes to this objective by highlighting which legal institutions can be revised to achieve this end.