Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2022
Programs of economic liberalization have many common features all over the world, but they do not necessarily have the same consequences. Differences in their effects reflect differences in the countries themselves along with accidental factors of timing and external events, and they can also embody systematic consequences of alternatives within the programs. The starting point in this discussion is that different versions of liberalization—alternatives consistent with the basic strategy—can have significantly different effects on poverty and inequality.
This article grew out of a discussion paper, “Los programas de ajuste estructural y el carácter del desarrollo: Reflexiones comparativas sobre Chile, México, y Perú,” presented to a seminar at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos in Lima in May 1995. I would like to thank Oscar Altimir and Arturo León Batista for their advice on problems of basic data and Elena Alvarez, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, Efraín Gonzales de Olarte, Ann Helwege, Javier Iguíñiz, James Mahon, Oscar Muñoz Goma, Joseph Ramos, and colleagues in the Department of Economics at Williams College for their helpful suggestions.