Escobal, J. (2003). New institutions for agricultural and rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean. En B. Davis (Ed.), Current and emerging issues for economic analysis and policy research (CUREMIS II) (pp.1-30). Rome: FAO.

In a recent document, Piñeiro et al. (1999) review the recent history of the reforms of the agricultural public sector in Latin America, giving a more balanced view of the role of the state than the one prevailing in Washington circles in the 1990s. The authors analyse the first wave of reforms and the current second wave and explore a much-needed third wave. They link institutional aspects with the effectiveness of policies, programmes and projects financed by the public sector and try to tackle the issue of how to improve public sector management and capacities in order to complement private sector activities. Although the focus of this work is more on agricultural than on rural institutions, the approach is very much in line with what we try to pursue here. This chapter can be seen as an extension of their analysis to the broader issue of rural institutions.