This paper is a product of a current ODI research project, which examines the uses and limitations of donor conditionality as a way of bringing about improved economic policies in developing countries.

There has during the last decade and a half been a remarkable about-turn in thinking about economic policy in many Latin American countries, particularly as it relates to macroeconomic management. This paper examines the extent to which the conditionality of the IMF, World Bank and bilateral aid donors contributed to this policy revolution, concentrating particularly at the forces that contributed to the policy turning points in each of the countries studied: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.