Effects of Liberalization Programs on Poverty and Inequality: Chile, Mexico, and Peru

Abstract

Programs of economic liberalization have many common features all over the world, but they do not necessarily have the same consequences. Differences in their effects reflect differences in the countries themselves along with accidental factors of timing and external events, and they can also embody systematic consequences of alternatives within the programs. The starting point in this discussion is that different versions of liberalization - alternatives consistent with the basic strategy - can have significantly different effects on poverty and inequality.