This report, commissioned as a module in the United Nations Development Programme / International Poverty Center's Global Training Program, describes the current state of knowledge with respect to pro-poor growth financial policies. These policies are presented as alternatives to what the authors argue are the failed financial policies inspired by orthodox economics. Orthodox financial policies, also known as "Washington Consensus" policies, have been implemented in a large number of developing countries over the last quarter century. Epstein and Grabel explore the logic of these financial policies and examine the diverse ways in which they have failed the developing world.
The principal goals of this module are to present a range of financial policies that have been utilized in some countries to promote pro-poor growth at various times, and to present a set of more innovative policies that have not yet been utilized, but which can also support pro-poor growth. The authors argue, in fact, that there exists a wealth of such experiences and strategies available to practitioners in the developing world.
