SANTIAGO, Chile — To anybody visiting this prosperous Andean capital, it is hard to overlook the potholes along the path of Latin America’s economic development.

Chile is a stellar performer by almost any standard. Income per person has grown fourfold over the last quarter-century. Today, many Chileans, rightly, see their nation as within shouting range of the advanced industrial world.

Yet for all its economic success, the shanties sprawling outside of town are a sharp reminder that Chile has still not shaken the curse that has plagued Latin America for centuries: an immense gap between the haves and the have-nots that is virtually unparalleled in the rest of the world.

According to data from the World Bank, the richest 10 percent of Chileans capture $42 out of every $100 worth of disposable income, far in excess of the industrial countries Chile would like to see as its peers. In Spain, where the median income is roughly 30 percent higher than in Chile, the comparable figure is $25. In the United States it is $30.