Finding merit: academic discussions about public employees in Chile, 1884-1920

Abstract

From 1884 to 1920, the political patronage in public employee’s appointments was a main issue in Chilean political discussions. Politicians and the academia had focused on this topic and tried to present some solutions in order to correct this issue. This paper studies a number of academic proposals in order to answer questions such as: which kind of employees must be appointed to public administration, how to select them, and how to let them to develop careers in their jobs.