I really was blown away by Chile and how productive the economy is there.  I was aksed what was the one thing that most impressed me there and I said “the people”.  They want to work and enjoy the good life there.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Friday announced the creation of a National Office of Productivity and Entrepreneurship (OPEN) to boost productivity.

OPEN will reduce paperwork and red tape, allowing Chileans to better focus on their work, innovate more, and double the nation’s capacity “to grow, invent, increase jobs, raise wages and create entrepreneurs,” Pinera said.

Chile has more than 2 million entrepreneurs, equivalent to 25 percent of the labor force, according to the Ministry of Economy and the National Institute of Statistics.

Nearly 80 percent of Chileans want to be entrepreneurs, according to government data.

“We want more entrepreneurs … We want to remove the obstacles that keep them from reaching their goals,” Minister of Economy Jose Ramon Valente had said.

Panama could learn from our neighbors down south.