This text examines why some societies with market economies perform much better than others and what the less successful countries can learn from the more successful ones. It includes comparison of Latin American with East Asian approches as well as North American and Western European.

The investigation focuses on economic policies designed to stimulate growth, on labour-market policies designed to promote a qualified labour force and increase productivity and wages, and on social policies designed to improve general human capital and to distribute life chances in an equitable way. The volume is innovative in explicitly connecting the discussion of growth policies with an analysis of labour market and social policies and in going beyond comparison of Latin American with East Asian approaches to include reference to equity-oriented policies in North America and Western Europe as well. This approach helps demonstrate how important policy design is in determining distributive outcomes at any given level of development.