For better than two decades, the orthodox recipe for
global growth has been
embodied in the so-called Washington Consensus. This approach, advocated by the
United States and enforced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), holds that growth is maximized when barriers to the free flow of capital
and commerce are dismantled and when individual economies are exposed to the
discipline, consumer markets, and entrepreneurs of the world economic system.
Proponents of this view have contended that the free-market approach to
development will also alleviate poverty, both by raising overall growth rates and
by bringing modern capitalism to the world's poorest.