Washington Consensus

The Washington Consensus refers to the economic policies demanded of developing countries in economic crisis by prestigious economic institutions located in Washington D.C., such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the U.S. Treasury. There is no mechanically perfect standard for classification; it is a concept used somewhat flexibly, and it is generally directly or indirectly associated with economic policies in Latin America.

A consensus reached in the early 1990s among the IMF, the World Bank, and U.S. policymakers. It proposed structural adjustment measures to be implemented by developing countries and other Third World countries, including government budget cuts, deregulation, capital market liberalization, privatization of national key industries, and allowing foreign capital to merge with and acquire domestic blue-chip companies. At its core was a national development model combining democratic government with a private-sector-led market economy. Thereafter, the Washington Consensus served as a byword for neoliberalism representing the positions of the United States, the IMF, and the World Bank, and as governments around the world adopted it, it provided the foundation for global economic prosperity until the early 2000s.

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Topics: Free Trade,Pax Americana,United States,1990s
Category: Wiki/Economy