Latin American Macroeconomic Reforms

Despite a number of economic crises in the mid- to late 1990s, Latin American economies in general have improved dramatically in recent years, largely due to macroeconomic reforms. This book brings together prominent economists and policymakers to assess the results of a decade of these reforms, highlighting both the many success stories and the areas in which further work is needed. Contributors offer case studies of individual countries and regional overviews that cover monetary, financial and fiscal policies. For example, now that inflation rates have been stabilized, one suggested "second stage" monetary reform would be to focus on reducing rates from high to low single digits. Financial sector reforms should centre on improving regulation and supervision. Finally, since fiscal stability has already been achieved in most countries, new fiscal reforms need to focus on institutionalizing fiscal discipline, improving the efficiency and equity of tax collection, and modifying institutional arrangements to deal with increasingly decentralized federal systems.