Abstract: This paper presents a long‐period growth accounting for Chile, an emerging economy, from the early nineteenth century through to 2010. The methodology, data, and sources used are thoroughly discussed, and the results are compared with a benchmark based on a sample of countries. Some of the findings are: Chile’s average productivity growth over the whole period is explained mainly by capital deepening, but long period averages hide huge and variable differences when various time subdivisions are explored. Gross TFP growth increases throughout phases until 1973 when an international reduction sets in. The research also put the role of employment‐population ratio into perspective.