This introductory piece provides some context to the special edition on business and economic history of Chile and Latin America. It also provides an introduction to better understanding research and method in business history while inviting for this field to be further developed in Chile.

Part I. Cost Efficiency and the Hospital System in the United States -- Chapter 1. Fuzzy Numbers: U.S. Hospital Accounting since the 1930s (Christy F. Chapin) -- Chapter 2. Resisting The Dream of Markets: Maryland’s All-Payer Hospital Rate-Setting System and the Persistence of Regulation in...