The imposition of neoliberal policies caused two decades of crisis, with rising poverty, inequality and unemployment. Income growth rates across the South collapsed during the 1980s and 1990s, down to an average of 0.7% over this two-decade period.8 But as far as capital was concerned, it worked like a charm: it enabled multinational companies to post record profits, and sent the incomes of the richest 1% soaring.
