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Neoliberalism in Latin America: Good, Bad, or Incomplete?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Michael Walton
Michael Walton*
Affiliation:
The World Bank
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This Research Note looks at the recent Latin American record in economic and social development from the perspective of the effects of “neoliberalism.” There are at least two ways in which neoliberalism is commonly used: a narrow usage, that refers to a shift in a subset of policies to a greater reliance on markets; and, a broader usage, that implies a wholesale change in the relationship between the state and society, with a more vigorous embrace of the market being part of a generalized withdrawal of state provisioning and action. The first clearly occurred in most of the region in the 1980s and 1990s. We will argue that shifts to a greater dependence on markets were usually beneficial, probably disappointing relative to the expectations of advocates, and certainly incomplete as a development strategy. The effects on growth, stability, and inequality depend crucially on other factors, including the distributions of assets, structural policies (for example, on social development and infrastructure) and political and social institutions.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 165 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

The author would like to thank Francisco Ferreira, Daniel Lederman, Kurt Weyland, and an anonymous referee for valuable comments on earlier drafts, and Marcela Rubio Sánchez for research assistance. The views are of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank management or its executive directors.

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