Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

People are living longer and longer, and that has demographic effects in every corner of society.

We look into the many challenges that growing elderly populations present for the prison system,

which was never designed to deal with them.

And there's an intriguing theory that may help explain rising political instability that seems to have taken hold all over.

Maybe these aren't battles that start from the bottom of unequal societies.

Maybe it's too much jostling at the top.

But first... The votes are in.

Yesterday, Chileans decided by an overwhelming majority

to scrap and replace their dictatorship-era constitution.

President Sebastian Piniera said it was the beginning of a new path for the country.

Chile's constitution was introduced under Augusto Pinochet, the dictator who ruled by terror for nearly two decades. He lost power after a plebiscite in 1988. All of them united in opposition

to the regime of General Pinochet. It was the biggest political rally yet seen in the capital.

But the Constitution remained. Later governments amended it dozens of times. But for many Chileans,

the Constitution's most fundamental provisions are to blame for the inequality and poor public

services that plague one of Latin America's wealthiest countries. A year ago, mass protests erupted.

At least 30 people died and thousands were injured.

There were yet more demonstrations in the run-up to yesterday's vote.

Now the country will get a chance to recast its national charter, quietening some concerns, but perhaps

raising new ones. Chileans blame the constitution of 1980 for a lot that's wrong with the country.

Brooke Unger is our America's editor. In many ways, looking from the outside, there's not a lot wrong with

Chile. It's got one of the highest per capita incomes in the

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