PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Analyzing the 2019 Chilean social outbreak: Modelling Latin American economies.

  • Sergio Curilef,
  • Diego González,
  • Carlos Calderón

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256037
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 8
p. e0256037

Abstract

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In this work, we propose a quantitative model for the 2019 Chilean protests. We utilize public data for the consumer price index, the gross domestic product, and the employee and per capita income distributions as inputs for a nonlinear diffusion-reaction equation, the solutions to which provide an in-depth analysis of the population dynamics. Specifically, the per capita income distribution stands out as a solution to the extended Fisher-Kolmogorov equation. According to our results, the concavity of employee income distribution is a decisive input parameter and, in contrast to the distributions typically observed for Chile and other countries in Latin America, should ideally be non-negative. Based on the results of our model, we advocate for the implementation of social policies designed to stimulate social mobility by broadening the distribution of higher salaries.