Structural Change and Monetary Policy in Latin America — Possible Lessons for Other Developing Countries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance and orientation of monetary policy in developing countries in the present day context, by trying to draw some lessons from the Latin American experience. This is really a very broad subject and it involves a number of basic assumptions, just as it also has to take into account a typology of developing countries. Not only do economic structures in developing countries differ, but the institutions through which development policy and the many specific aspects of monetary and financial policy are carried out also vary. Some countries, in Latin America and Asia, have had a long tradition of monetary and banking institutions and a considerable experience in the development and implementation of monetary policy. Others have only recently evolved from the rather simple mechanisms by which monetary control was to some extent managed in the pre-independence period, for instance, in many African and several smaller Asian economies. Central banks also differ in their nature and functions, and it is not easy to draw general conclusions as to their rôle in economic development.KeywordsMonetary PolicyFiscal PolicyBanking SystemCommercial BankMoney SupplyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.