Different forms in different countries

As anyone who has studied South American history knows, Chile and Argentina are traditional enemies. Historically, Argentina has had the upper hand in most respects: It is larger; more fertile; more populous; and its geographic position at the head of the Rio de la Plata and the Atlantic to control exports to Europe. However, the past century has seen a Chilean ascendancy: With the growth of the American West, there was an export market for agricultural products; sitting upon some of the richest fishing grounds in the world (the Humboldt stream), refrigeration and instant freezing allowed for a fishing industry for export; and after annexing the Atacama desert from Bolivia in the War of the Pacific, it was a principal nitrate exporter in the world (this actually was the first of the 3).

Today, many people consider Chile the wealthier of the two countries, and GDP per head confirms this I believe. In fact, these days Chilean businesses actually own major stakes in many Argentine companies - they bought up massively after the 2001 currency collapse. On the other hand, Argentines are proud of their quality of life, and maintain that Chile, for whatever success it's had in the last few decades, lacks much of what makes Argentina a great place to live. Chileans on the other hand praise their incorruptible police (very unlike Argentina - more on this in another post), their responsive government, and their progressive country.

Here's a major difference I've noticed in the "wealth" of the two countries:

Argentina had 150 years of infrastructural investment, starting with the train concessions given to the British. The road network is excellent, you can drink the tap water in just about all parts of the country, and the administrative infrastructure, particularly in regards to agriculture, is great. For instance, contaminated honey can be traced to the hive from which it originated, even if the contamination isn't discovered until months and thousands of miles later, abroad. Moreover, Argentina can produce almost all food needs domestically, due to the incredible breadth of environments within the country. Schools and telephone and internet services exist just about everywhere. Unfortunately, ever since 2001 many of its people have had to live in bitter poverty, although this is visibly becoming better.

Chile on the other hand, has great personal wealth; although many of the places I went still lacked paved roads, people were skeptical of the quality of drinking water, and waste water management remains an "idea to be explored in the future," people had many personal accessories that are great luxuries elsewhere. For instance, a digital camera, though not rare anymore in Argentina, is pretty much standard even for backpackers in Chile. In fact, the whole country was packed with Chileans travelling around - from15 year old girls in brand name gear to families in new cars. And on top of the digital camera, everyone was rocking one some form of m3 player, to boot.