The Social Dimension of Economic Adjustment Programmes: Economic Feedbacks and Implications for Medium and Long-Term Growth

Abstract

During the 1970s several industrialised countries resorted to IMF-supported stabilisation programmes in order to deal with the impacts of the two oil crises on their external accounts and their internal macroeconomic stability (especially with regard to inflationary pressures). Along with these stabilisation efforts, many countries undertook structural reforms aimed at improving their efficiency and competitiveness through reduced dependency on imported energy sources, rationalisation of the productive structure, greater scope for market forces.