Ordering Information
Paper Text
978-1-933286-16-7,
24.95
Most students of development put more energy into understanding the causes and consequences of absolute poverty than of inequality. But globalization—with new opportunities to win and to lose—is changing that. Equality is an issues of rising concern, and nowhere is it more worrying than in Latin America, home to many of the world's most unequal societies.
In this book, CGD President Nancy Birdsall and her coauthors Augusto de la Torre, chief economist for Latin America at the World Bank, and Rachel Menezes, former economic policy associate at the Inter-American Dialogue, explore the links between recent growth trends, changing patterns of inequality, and rising cynicism and frustration across the region with the political leadership. They present a dozen economic policy tools aimed explicitly at outcomes that are fairer for the great majority of people, yet do not sacrifice growth. Success with these fair growth reforms requires political leadership and technical know-how on the part of government officials and legislators, as well as the support and input of business, civil society groups, students, and intellectuals.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nancy Birdsall
Nancy Birdsall is the founding president of the Center for Global Development. Prior to launching the center, Birdsall was senior associate and director of the Economic Reform Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Augusto de la Torre
Augusto de la Torre is senior regional financial sector advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank. He served as governor of the Central Bank of Ecuador from 1993 to 1996.
Rachel Menezes
Rachel Menezes is a former economic policy associate at the Inter-American Dialogue. Previously, she worked at the Estado de S. Paulo. She is currently setting up small a foundation in Aracatuba, Brazil, for economically disadvantaged young women to study at the tertiary level.
Selected Reviews
"The 'Washington Consensus' reforms needed to be supplemented by a set of measures explicitly focused on equity. This book offers a vision of what such a reform agenda should look like. Unlike the populist demagoguery that has for too long dominated discussion of this topic in Latin America, the authors' 'equity toolkit' is well-conceived and deserves to be discussed and implemented."
John Williamson,
Peterson Institute for International Economics
"Solid and closely argued policy recommendations make FAIR GROWTH compulsory reading for politicians, intellectuals, experts, businesspeople, and all those among us who believe it is possible to build a region that is more just and more prosperous."
Michelle Bachelet,
President of Chile
"This volume is a must for understanding the causes of the Latin American disease of slow growth with social injustice. More importantly, it also provides a prescription of sensible remedies to cure the disease. Bravo for its authors!"
Ernesto Zedillo,
Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, and former President of Mexico
"A wide-ranging, worthy, and human replacement for the failed doctrines of the Washington Consensus. Even those of us who favor stronger medicine will find much to admire and appreciate in this book."
James Galbraith,
University of Texas at Austin