Beyond Tradeoffs: Market Reform and Equitable Growth in Latin America

Latin American income distribution is among the most unequal in the world. Both the poor and the wealthy have paid a price for this inequality, which is in part responsible for the region’s low growth rates. The essays in this book propose new ways of reducing inequality, not by growth-inhibiting transfers and regulations, but by enhancing efficiency and eliminating consumption subsidies for the wealthy, increasing the productivity of the poor, and shifting to a more labour and skill-demanding growth path. In Beyond Tradeoffs , Latin American experts demonstrate how market-friendly measures in key policy areas can simultaneously promote greater equity and greater efficiency. By identifying win-win strategies, the authors challenge the conventional wisdom that there is always a tradeoff between these two objectives. Extensive macroeconomic reforms in the region have provided opportunities to implement such strategies across many sectors. The volume aims at building a Latin consensus on a second round of reform - reforms that address the urgent issue of inequality without undermining efficient growth. Contributors include Jonathan Coles, Rene Cortazar, Ricardo Hausmann, and Joseph Stiglitz. Nancy Birdsall is executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank. Carol Graham is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and codirector of the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics at the Brookings Institution. Richard H. Sabot is the John J. Gibson Professor of Economics at Williams College in Massachusetts.