Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: The Rise and Fall of Welfare and Developmental States in the Americas

The untold story of how welfare and development programs in the United States and Latin America produced the instruments of their own destruction is revealed in this groundbreaking book. By the 1960s, U.S. advisors had decentralized the state, privatized public functions, and launched austere social welfare programs in Colombia, generating new lessons for the United States. When the Johnson administration launched the War on Poverty, they promised to repatriate the lessons of development, but right-wing movements seeking to dismantle the midcentury state redeployed policies already at hand.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 08 June 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press

In the years following 1945, a wave of U.S. advisors flooded into Latin America, driven by a dream of building a new economic order and uplifting the Third World out of poverty. These individuals, ranging from businessmen and economists to community workers and architects, carried the gospel of the New Deal on their lips, eager to implement its principles in the region. However, the realities of Latin America soon revealed unexpected possibilities within the New Deal itself. In Colombia, for instance, Latin Americans and U.S. advisors worked together to decentralize the state, privatize public functions, and launch austere social welfare programs. By the 1960s, they had transformed the country's housing projects, river valleys, and universities. They had also gained valuable insights for the United States.

When the Johnson administration launched the War on Poverty, U.S. social movements, business associations, and government agencies pledged to repatriate the lessons of development. They achieved this by expanding the use of austerity and for-profit contracting within their own welfare state. A decade later, ascendant right-wing movements sought to dismantle the midcentury state, they redeployed policies already at hand, further entrenching the legacy of American influence in Latin America.

In her groundbreaking book, "Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: The Untold Story of How Welfare and Development Programs in the United States and Latin America Produced the Instruments of Their Own Destruction," Amy Offner takes readers on a journey to Colombia and back, illuminating the intricate connections between American societies and the contradictory promises of midcentury statebuilding. The book also offers a surprising new account of the origins of neoliberalism, shedding light on the complex web of factors that shaped the economic and political landscape of the region.

Weight: 628g
Dimension: 155 x 232 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691205205