Making Adjustment Work for the Poor

Adjustment is best considered as the implementation of comprehensive reforms of macro and micro policies, in response to various shocks, and to rectify inappropriate past policies that have hampered economic performance. These shocks have adversely affected the whole range of economic policy objectives, including the balance of payments, price stability, full employment, economic growth, the protection of the environment, and equity/poverty reduction. Shocks, whether internal or external, affect all policy objectives, and not simply the balance of payments, price stability, and growth which are the traditional focus. We are here concerned with how adjustment programs have affected the wider social objectives of governments, and especially poverty reduction