ABSTRACT
Williamson maintains that “the debate on economic policy reform is one which he became engaged almost by accident ten years ago, when he invented the now notorious phrase ‘the Washington Consensus’”. Williamson introduced the term “Washington Consensus” in 1989. The term, as Williamson conceived it, was in principle geographically and historically specific, a lowest common denominator of the reforms that he judged “Washington” could agree were required in Latin America at the time. As of 1989, systematic thinking on international development had produced a set of multiple and complementary reforms that specified the need to establish property rights and effective market incentives, and to maintain macroeconomic stability. Williamson insisted that the Washington Consensus policies accelerate growth and eventually equitable distribution of income, as a result of macroeconomic discipline, a liberal market economy, and openness to the world. In the long run, the goal should be market-determined interest rates.
