The Political economy of policy reform

Abstract

A large measure of consensus exists about the substantive content of successful economic policy reform--macroeconomic discipline, microeconomic liberalization, and participation in the global economy--that is needed for an economy to enter the modern world. There is much less consensus on the political conditions necessary to sustain meaningful economic reform. Editor John Williamson commissioned 13 case studies for countries as diverse as Australia, Chile, and Poland from technopols who played leading roles in implementing the policy reforms. Each author focuses on the political and institutional factors that shaped policy choices and outcomes. This volume contains the case studies and a synthesis of findings and other policy implications by Williamson and University of California at San Diego political scientist Stephan Haggard. Other distinguished experts, including Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique Iglesias and Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs, contribute independent appraisals of the political economy of reform in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union.