Free exchange | Latin America

No longer the crisis continent?

Latin American economic crises are less severe than they used to be

By C.W. | LONDON

WE ARGUED in a recent blog post that developing countries, despite their recent wobble, have got a lot better at fiscal and monetary policy. They are more inclined to use counter-cyclical tactics than ever before. But did these improvements actually make any difference to their economic fortunes?

A new paper*, presented at an IMF conference in honour of Stanley Fischer, the former head of the Bank of Israel (for more on the conference see here), answers in the affirmative. The paper focuses on Latin America—for some people a continent inextricably associated with financial crises.

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