During the second half of the last decade, the three countries of the Southern Cone of Latin America—Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay—were subject to radical economic reforms that completely changed the structure upon which economic development took place in the past. While the new policies were in effect, their implementation was closely scrutinized by observers holding very different ideological convictions. As the region plunged into economic turmoil, the same policies became the subject of heated debate and have been analyzed and interpreted in many different ways.