Peru’s 1990 shock program worsened poverty and unemployment dramatically.

Evidence

Following the 1990 “Fujishock,” the proportion of Peruvians living in poverty increased to 54 percent; the percentage of the workforce underemployed or unemployed rose from 81.4 in 1990 to 87.3 in 1993; and real wages fell by 40 percent between 1990 and 1992 (Roberts 1996, 97). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2002

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Fujimori/neoliberal shock-therapy literature and de Soto’s role in Peru, the subject of the surrounding chapter.