Simmons, BethDobbin, FrankGarrett, Geoffrey2014-08-252008Simmons, Beth A., Frank Dobbin, and Geoffrey Garrett. 2008. Introduction: The Diffusion of Liberalization. In The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy, ed. Beth A. Simmons, Frank Dobbin, and Geoffrey Garrett, 1-63. New York: Cambridge University Press.978051175594197805218788909780521703925http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12748059The worldwide spread of economic and political liberalism was one of the defining features of the late twentieth century. Free-market oriented economic reforms – macroeconomic stabilization, liberalization of foreign economic policies, privatization, and deregulation – took root in many parts of the world. At more or less the same time, a "third wave" of democratization and liberal constitutionalism washed over much of the globe. Most economists believe the gains to developing countries from the liberalization of economic policies to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But they also acknowledge the instability and human insecurity sometimes left in liberalization’s wake.en-USMonograph or Book2014-08-2510.1017/CBO9780511755941.001