Local Initiatives and IMF Policies in Quito, Ecuador

If we are to define development as an increase in the freedoms people enjoy, then we may move beyond structural adjustments and foreign investment as means to create wealth in Ecuador and Latin America. Although not conclusively documented one way or the other [13], microlending is a promising path towards development from this perspective. At the very least, microlending offers hope to a segment of the population that would otherwise be disenfranchised. In Quito, Ecuador, microlending programs are creating wealth and expanding freedoms in a manner consistent with capitalism, while a good deal of IMF policies extract wealth from the poor through a central authority far-removed from the general population