ABSTRACT
Structural adjustment programs differ little, if at all, from the emerging economic paradigm that is predicated on a globalized world economy. Basic features of that model include strong export orientation, flexible exchange rates, commercial bank finance and private sector expansion, reduced economic intervention by governments, government regulation focused on controlling inflation and fiscal deficits, and decontrol of labor markets. In fact, structural adjustment programs, coupled with new trade regimes, have been the main programmatic vehicle responsible for accelerating the integration and globalization of the world economy. During no other historical period has such a uniform set of policy prescriptions—including privatization, diminution of the state’s role, liberalization and export promotion, and decontrol of labor markets—been applied in so many countries, in such a short time, with such sweeping results.
