Procurement Mechanisms for Assortments of Differentiated Products

Many procurement agencies around the world construct assortments of differentiated products from which consumers can buy from. A leading example is framework agreements, a type of procurement mechanism commonly used by governments. This type of practice is studied head on. The authors introduce a mechanism design formulation of the procurement agency’s problem and solves it under progressively more realistic implementation constraints. The results show how restricting entry of close-substitute products into the assortment can increase price competition, reducing spending significantly, without much damage to the variety offered to consumers. Furthermore, the results have practical implications that can be used by procurement agencies to increase consumer surplus and have already been used to redesign FAs in the Chilean government.

Pensions controversy will challenge Chilean government

Headline CHILE: Pensions controversy will challenge government

Torture based on discrimination in Chile.

Of the approximately 40 Mapuche political prisoners currently serving sentences in Chilean jails, more than half have either gone on, or are currently on, hunger strike. The first prisoners to adopt such a measure did so on May 4. They are taking in liquids, but no solids, and so the state of health of many has now reached a critical level. Following substantial international pressure, the Chilean government has offered some minor prison benefits, however, there is no sign of measures to address neither the reasons for the strike, nor the torture perpetrated for reasons of discrimination that the Mapuche prisoners continue to suffer.

COVID-19 and Indigenous peoples in Chile: vulnerability to contagion and mortality

This research investigates whether Indigenous Populations are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and deaths in Chile. To answer this question, we use a regression model to analyze data from the Chilean government. Our analysis indicates that municipalities with a higher proportion of Indigenous people evinced higher rates of infection and deaths to COVID-19. Indigenous groups were not only highly affected at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak; their rate of infection and mortality has increased as the virus has spread to the general population. We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic can have devastating effects on Indigenous communities, mainly because it increases the historically accumulated inequalities and structural racism linked to colonization, neoliberalism, and neo-extractivism in Chile.

Interoperable HL7 FHIR platform to report PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests from laboratories to the Chilean government (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Testing, traceability, and the isolation (TTI strategy) actions are a central strategy defined by WHO to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, countries have had difficulties in counting the number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2. Errors in reporting results are a common factor as well as the lack of interoperability between laboratories and governments. Approaches aimed at sending spreadsheets via email expose patients' privacy and have increased the probability of errors due to re-typing and generate a delay in the notification of results. OBJECTIVE Design and develop an interoperable platform to report PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests from laboratories to the Chilean government. METHODS The methodology to design and develop the interoperable platform was comprised of six well-structured stages: 1) Creation of a minimum dataset to PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests, 2) Modeling process and endpoints where institutions interchange information, 3) Standards and interoperability design, 4) Software development, 5) Quality assurance and 6) Software implementation. RESULTS The main result was the interoperable FHIR platform to report PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests from laboratories to the Chilean government. The platform was designed, developed, tested, and implemented following a structured methodology. The platform's performance to 1,000 requests resulted in a response time of 240 milliseconds, throughput was 28.3 requests per second, and the process management time was 131 milliseconds. The platform has availability of 99.9 %. The security was implemented with JSON Web Token (JWT) to ensure confidentiality, authorization, and authentication. All the PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests were accessible through an Application Programming Interface (API) gateway with valid credentials and the right access control list. CONCLUSIONS The platform was implemented and is currently being used by UC Christus Laboratory. The platform is secure. It was tested adequately for confidentiality, secure authorization, authentication, and message integrity. This platform simplifies the reporting of PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests and reduces the time and probability of mistakes in counting positive cases. The interoperable solution with FHIR is working successfully and is open for the community, laboratories, and any institution that needs to report PCR SARS-CoV-2 tests.

Decarbonization Tradeoffs: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Modeling Analysis for the Chilean Power Sector

Medium size developing countries like Chile that commit to decarbonization goals need to carefully assess the trade-offs associated to their intensity and timing, since most of the technologies required will be absorbed, not produced, by these countries. A rapid expansion of renewables in the Chilean energy matrix, mostly thanks to exceptional solar and wind resources, combined with a rapid decrease in the cost of renewable energy technologies, intensified current policy debates to reduce the role of coal, which is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the generation mix. Recently, the main generation companies in Chile made a voluntary commitment to not invest in new coal projects that do not include carbon capture and storage systems. In addition, the Chilean government announced its plans to phase out coal plants completely by 2040. In this context, the aim of this research is to study the economy-wide and emission reduction impacts of different decarbonization paths in the Chilean power sector. For this purpose, we consider dynamic simulations using a new energy-oriented version of the Computable General Equilibrium Model (CGE)- General Equilibrium Model for the Chilean Economy (ECOGEM)-Chile which is soft linked to the bottom-up engineering energy model. The results show the major impacts under both the business as usual (BAU) scenario and the coal phase-out scenario. Additionally, the study discusses to what extent the ambitious decarbonization goals of the Chilean government are coherent with the current technological limitations.

Conclusion

December 2006 saw the passing of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile through a military dictatorship that lasted almost seventeen years. Pinochet’s regime, which had its roots in a 1973 military coup against Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government, murdered thousands and tortured tens of thousands. Upon Pinochet’s passing, the Chilean government allowed the military to hold official ceremonies mourning him, but refused to honor the military dictator with a head-of-state funeral....

Time of Trouble, 1967–1969

This chapter details how, despite the seemingly favorable situation for the Chilean government, in 1967 things would begin to go in a very different direction. After the first two successful years of the Frei administration, the attitude of the opposition stiffened noticeably, and even within the Christian Democratic Party some leaders began to voice their disagreement with the character and the pace of some of the reforms implemented by the government. Eduardo Frei himself was still a popular figure, a condition he would continue to enjoy for most of his tenure and beyond. In addition, his positive international standing reinforced his image in Chile. However, his own personal popularity would not translate into a continuation of the success of the first two years of his administration. The changing winds of Chilean politics and the declining fortunes of the Lyndon B. Johnson administration would get in the way, and it was, in fact, a situation connected to the close relationship between the Frei administration and the United States that marked the beginning of the end of the Revolution in Liberty.

UN rights report will add to Chilean government woes

Headline CHILE: UN rights report will add to government woes