Whatever Inconsistencies and Effects? Explaining the Resilience of the Policy Reforms Applied to Developing Countries
Idioma
en
Article de revue
Este ítem está publicado en
Forum for Social Economics. 2015, vol. 44, p. 159-178
Taylor and Francis Online
Resumen en inglés
Why is ‘neoliberalism’ still a predominant framework within economics and policymaking? The paper considers the mix of theoretical assumptions, causalities and policies known as the ‘Washington consensus’, focusing on ...Leer más >
Why is ‘neoliberalism’ still a predominant framework within economics and policymaking? The paper considers the mix of theoretical assumptions, causalities and policies known as the ‘Washington consensus’, focusing on developing countries. Firstly, it analyses their main elements, resilience and effects (the ‘lost decades in spite of policy reform’). Secondly, it examines the reasons of this resilience and argues that a reason is their adaptive capacity via constant exchanges between facts and conceptual assumptions, because this mix is constituted of heterogeneous elements (from neoclassical theory, ad hoc models or empirics-based policymaking): inconsistency is a core feature and as such its correction is irrelevant. These ‘adaptive inconsistencies’ are consolidated by the simultaneous theoretical/policy dimension of the mix. Its cognitive resilience is reinforced by the irrefutability of causations and the cause/effect time lag (‘after current costs, there will be gains’, e.g., growth), and is not challenged by the social costs of policies.< Leer menos
Palabras clave en inglés
Public policy
international financial institutions
developing countries
Orígen
Importado de HalCentros de investigación