Chile has been more expensive than Argentina for a few years now and especially since 2002. However, even before the Argentine de-dollarization and since 1999, I found Chile to be not as good a value as Argentina unless just comparing Santiago and Buenos Aires. (Buenos Aires was a more expensive city than Santiago and in some rather limited regards Buenos Aires still is; however, the value proposition has generally gone in one direction these past three or so years. That is to say, Chileans now come to Argentina by the bus- and plane-loads for a reason; and a few years back "bargain shopping" in Buenos Aires or elsewhere in Argentina would not be a thought that crossed the average Chilenos' mind.