Washington Contentious: Economic Policies for Social Equity in Latin America

Publication Info

Publication Type

• Books

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• Download (PDF, 583 KB)

Initiative

• Globalization and Inequality

Research Topics

• Capital Flows/ Financial Crises
• Economic Growth
• Education
• Governance/Democracy
• Inequality
• Poverty
• Private Investment
• Regions

CGD Expert

• Nancy Birdsall

Opinions

• Nancy Birdsall testifies before House Foreign Affairs Committee about Poverty and Inequality in Latin America
• Beyond the Consensus of Washington: New Social Contract in Latin America
• Beyond the Washington Consensus: A new job-based social contract in Latin America [Foreign Affairs En Español]

Articles

• Globalization and Inequality
• Bolivia's Leader Solidifies Region's Leftward Tilt [NYT]
• Reaching new policy deal for Latin America [Miami Herald]

Rights and Permissions

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Nancy Birdsall and Augusto de la Torre with Rachel Menezes

01/01/2001

At the end of the 1990s the future of Latin America seemed grim in the face of four devastating problems--slow and unsteady economic growth, persistent poverty, social injustice, and personal insecurity. For 10 years Latin America had pursued--with considerable vigor--the 10 economic policies that make up the Washington Consensus, the growth formula promoted by the U.S. Treasury and the international financial institutions. But performance fell far short of expectations, and a new approach was needed.

We created a task force to identify more effective economic and social policies for Latin America. The independence of our two institutions--the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Inter-American Dialogue--allows us to raise issues that are difficult to raise in polite, official discourse: capital controls as a solution to currency crises, the need for more taxation in most of Latin America, the myth of race-blind societies in the region, corruption in labor unions. We can also talk about the mistakes of specific countries and their leaders, and we do not have to hedge our recommendations.

This book is also available in Spanish (pdf, 320KB)