Silent revolution : the rise and crisis of market economics in Latin AmericaUpplaga 2

Throughout the 1990s Latin America was seen as the poster child of neoliberalism, as governments opened their economies to imports, slashed social spending, and gave priority to attracting foreign investment. In the process, runaway inflation was held in check and currencies stabilized. But this was done at huge environmental and human cost. Global corporations and small elite in Latin America grew rich, but the bulk of the population suffered. The first edition of Green's Silent Revolution, published in 1995, described the imposition of neoliberal economic models in Latin America, the role of the IMF and World Bank in enforcing them, and their consequences. This second, revised and updated edition makes clear that the "miracle" of the 1990s has come to an end. Green extends his analysis into the present, showing how the economic meltdown that is now taking place in Latin America was prepared by an economic strategy that could never live up to its own claims. This new edition was completed in a moment when the Argentinian economy is in ruins, Brazil is on the brink of collapse, riots are taking place in Uruguay, Peru, and Paraguay, a U.S. supported coup has just been averted in Venezuela. It will be an essential work for understanding ongoing developments in the region.