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Washington Consensus

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Abstract

The original purpose of the term ‘Washington Consensus’ was to distinguish between a number of policies that remain the subject of partisan controversy and a group of policies that were thought to be consensual in the post-1989 world. After its creation in 1989 the term acquired at least two more meanings. Some used it to describe the policies of the IMF and World Bank, which came to embrace not only institutional reform and a concern with governance but also the two-corners solution for exchange rates and capital account convertibility. Others used the term as a synonym for laissez-faire.

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Bibliography

  • Burki, J., and G.E. Perry. 1998. Beyond the Washington consensus: Institutions matter. Washington, DC: World Bank.

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  • Kuczynski, P.-P., and J. Williamson. 2003. After the Washington consensus: Restarting growth and reform in Latin America. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.

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  • Stiglitz, J.E. 2006. Making globalization work. New York: Norton.

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  • Williamson, J. 1990. What Washington means by policy reform. In Latin American adjustment: How much has happened? ed. J. Williamson. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.

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© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

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Williamson, J. (2018). Washington Consensus. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2656

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