Two decades of applying neoliberal economic policies to the developing world have yielded disappointing results. Latin America, the region that tried hardest to implement the "Washington Consensus" recipes--free trade, price deregulation, and privatization--has experienced low and volatile growth, with widening inequalities. Among the former socialist economies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, few have caught up with real output levels that prevailed before 1990. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most economies failed to respond to the adjustment programs demanded by the IMF and World Bank.
Two decades of applying neoliberal economic policies to the developing world have yielded disappointing results. Latin America, the region that tried hardest to implement the "Washington Consensus" recipes--free trade, price deregulation, and privatization--has experienced low and volatile growth, with widening inequalities. Among the former socialist economies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, few have caught up with real output levels that prevailed before 1990. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most economies failed to respond to the adjustment programs demanded by the IMF and World Bank.