Boom, crisis, and adjustment

the long version

This book reviews the macroeconomic experiences of eithteen developing countries and looks at the interplay between potitics and economics and the motivations for economic policies. The review primarily covers the turbulent years from 1974 to 1989 but sometimes looks back to 1965 and forward to 1992. The different policy reactions to external shocks are described. The four authors ask why experiences and policy reactions have differed among the countries and how growth rates were affected; they draw important lessons for the future and provide detailed analyses of inflation and stabilization episodes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, and Turkey. Other large countries included in the study are India, Korea, Morroco, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Thailand. The authors examine why some countries have managed to maintain low inflation, and they compare exchange rate regimes. An entire chapter looks at the interplay between politics and economics, and the final chapter makes specific policy recommendations.