The State of State Reform in Latin America

Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of institutional or 'second generation' reforms. 'The State of State Reform in Latin America' reviews and assesses the outcomes of these less studied institutional reforms. This book examines four major areas of institutional reform: political institutions and the state organization; fiscal institutions, such as budget, tax, and decentralization institutions; public institutions in charge of sectoral economic policies (financial, industrial, and infrastructure); and social sector institutions (pensions, social protection, and education). In each area, the authors summarize the reform objectives, describe and measure their scope, assess the main outcomes, and identify the implementation obstacles, especially those of an institutional nature. This publication belongs to the Latin American Development Forum Series (LADF), sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the World Bank.