the Washington Consensus...

A neo-liberal economic policy formed between the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. Treasury Department, and the World Bank designed to promote economic growth by introducing free-market principles into economically-depressed areas of the world, particularly Latin America, which was implemented largely in the 1990's.

The core principles were:

1) macro-stability

2) liberalization of markets (i.e., lowering of tariff barriers and market deregulation)

3) privatization

Net effects (not a comprehensive list):

1) widespread economic crises throughout Latin America
2) crippling debt (owed to the very instiutions which formulated the "consensus")
3) loss of American jobs
4) enriching large corporations and a small, priveleged minority in the host countries at the expense of the majority
5) increasing loss of worker rights

Sources:
1) wikipedia, "Washington Consensus"
2) interview with Joseph Stiglitz, the Multinational Monitor, April 2000, vol.1, no.4