Structural Adjustment: Its Origins, Rationale and Achievements

Abstract

The 1980s are known as the decade of adjustment in more ways than one. There have been major adjustments in economic policy, in both the OECD and developing countries. This has been in part a reflection of changes in economic thought, with the dissolution of the ‘neo-Keynesian consensus’ and the emergence of the so-called ‘neo-liberal’ consensus. The international financial institutions themselves have similarly been obliged to make their own adjustments in addressing the problems facing the developing world. This chapter is primarily concerned with the adjustment that has taken place in economic policy in the developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. However, given the roles of changes in both economic thought and its application in the international financial institutions, these other perspectives of ‘adjustment’ cannot be neglected altogether.

The author wishes to thank Ishrat Husain for his helpful Comments.