Latin America's macroeconomic, crises of the 1980´s and 90´s forced a severe fiscal adjustment across the region. More often than not, however, fiscal stability was achieved at the cost of a drastic compression of public infrastructure spending which in some countries amounted to half or more of the total budget deficit reduction. The retrenchment of the public sector from infrastructure construction and maintenance was accompanied by the opening up of such activities to the private sector, in the hope that it would take the leading role in the infrastructure provision. This book assesses the consequences of this changed public-private partnership from the perspective of economic growth, public finances , and the quantity and quality of infrastructure services. First, it documents the major trends in infrastructure provision in Latin America over the past two decades. Second, it evaluates the implications of these trends for economic growth and public deficits. Finally, it assess the determinates and macroeconomic effects of the private sector response, and it particular whatever private involvement has success in making up for the public sector retrenchment. Valuable to anyone concerned with Latin Americas development, this book will be of particular interest to those in the fields of infrastructure, fiscal policy and economic growth.