The Washington Consensus is Dead! Long Live the Meta-Narrative, ODI Working Paper 243, Jan 2005

Also published as The Washington Consensus is Dead! Long Live the (European) Meta-Narrative!, in Nord-Sud aktuell, volume 15, number 4, 2004

The Washington Consensus has been replaced by a new and improved orthodoxy, called here the ‘meta-narrative’. It emphasises the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) as an over-arching framework, and lays out the link between the MDGs, nationally owned poverty reduction strategies, macro-economic policy (including trade), effective public expenditure management, and harmonised aid in support of good governance and good policies. It also recognises the concern for security and poorly performing countries, as well as the international trade and finance agenda. The current meta-narrative can be improved, by paying more attention to rights, equity and social justice, to the problems of ‘infant economies’, and to issues of aid policy and aid architecture. There are implications for policy and for research................. (see link in title for full article)