Latin America: From the “Washington” to the “Cornwall Consensus”

Abstract

The research examines the proposals of the “Cornwall Consensus” in the context of their possible application in Latin America. The authors argue that these proposals could contribute to the development of a new economic development strategy for the post-liberal period. It is likely that the “Cornwall Consensus” proposals become dominant in shaping the global agenda on the new economic paradigm. Although it is important to mention that nowadays there also also “Beijing” and “Delhi” consensuses those are linked to the Chinese and Indian models of economic liberalization and constitute an alternative to the “Washington Consensus”. The article analyzes the effectiveness of the “Washington Consensus” adjustment mechanism, carries out a comparative analysis of the Latin American economies that pursued both liberal and statist development models. Then the article examines the main recommendations and ideas of the “Cornwall Consensus”, the prospects of adapting the Latin American region to the proposals of a new development model against the background of existing experience in implementing the recommendations of the “Washington Consensus”, its consequences and existing “post-neoliberal” alternatives. The authors conclude that, despite the adaptability of the Latin American economies, the question remains whether the proposals of the “Cornwall Consensus” can contribute to the revival of the development policy in Latin America aimed at creating a new type of “welfare state”? The study concludes that the proposals of the “Cornwall Consensus” could contribute to the formulation of a new development policy, since the “welfare state” in its Latin American version, regardless of whether “neoliberal” or “progressive”, has exhausted itself.