Abstract
Susan George in her critique of the power of the Washington Consensus argues that leaving a nation's economy and people to the mercies of the ‘free market’; in other words to the dominant international financial players interested only in short-term profits, is the equivalent of leaving the free fox to guard the free henhouse.
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1The Celso Furtado Centre is named for Celso Furtado a famous Brazilian development economist whose entire life, inside government and out, was devoted to reducing the poverty of his fellow Brazilians and to creating a truly national development project for his country. The Centre bearing his name has been established in Rio de Janeiro, in the headquarters of the BNDES – the Bank for National Economic and Social Development. Headed by his energetic widow, Rosa d'Aguiar Furtado, the Centre is a space for debate, research and for rebuilding the development agenda in our time, so deeply influenced by neo-liberalism. This article is based on Susan George's contribution to the International Celso Furtado Centre Colloquium on ‘Poverty and Development within the Context of Globalisation’, Rio de Janeiro, 25–27 July 2006. For more details on the Centre and the many writings of Susan George, please see http://www.tni.org/george/
Critiques the dominant international financial players and their role in creating poverty
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George, S. Down the Great Financial Drain: How debt and the Washington Consensus destroy development and create poverty. Development 50, 4–11 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100356
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100356