Lisa Keister is professor of sociology and director of the markets and management program at Duke University. She is the author of "Wealth in America" and the forthcoming, "Social Stratification and Inequality" and "Faith and Finances."
The much-reviled Washington Consensus with its faith in sound finances, hard money, free trade and limited government was inspired less by theory than by history, in particular the damage Latin America suffered from deficits, inflation, protectionism and dirigisme.