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Georgetown Americas Institute

February 19, 2026

The London Consensus, Evolving Global Order, and Implications for Latin America

Event Series: Latin America and the Geopolitical and Economic Transition: How to Harness the Revolution

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The Georgetown Americas Institute is pleased to host Andres Velasco, dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science for a conversation exploring the future of the London Consensus. The session will explore the implications for Latin America as world leaders challenge the Washington Consensus in pursuit of a better framework to offer policymakers. The conversation will be moderated by Eduardo Porter, Guardian columnist and author of the Substack “Being There,” and GAI Founding Director Alejandro Werner.

This is the second session in the event series Latin America and the Geopolitical and Economic Transition: How to Harness the Revolution, which aims to examine how shifting long-term currents are affecting the world, their potential impact on Latin America, and how the region should adapt and react. The region has historically lived in the shadow of the United States while drawing closer to China. It possesses vast natural resources yet continues to search for a path toward equitable and sustained prosperity. It is a heterogeneous set of countries with a shared history, split by deep rivalries, yet strengthened by the enduring idea of a regional identity. It is imperative that Latin American leaders confront these forces of transformation with clear eyes.

Featuring 

Andrés Velasco is the dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 2017 to 2018 he was a member of the G20 Eminent Persons Group. During 2015 and 2016 he co-chaired the Global Panel on the Future of the Multilateral Lending Institutions and from 2013 to 2016 was a member of the Global Oceans Commission. Velasco was a presidential candidate in Chile in 2013. He also was the minister of finance of Chile between March 2006 and March 2010; during his tenure he was recognized as Latin American Finance Minister of the Year by several international publications. His work to save Chile’s copper windfall and create a rainy-day fund was highlighted in the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg, among many others. From 2013 to 2017, Velasco served as professor of professional practice in international development at the Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. From 2000 to 2006 he was Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. Earlier he was associate professor of economics and director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.

Eduardo Porter writes “Being There” on Substack and has a regular column in the Guardian. Porter worked for nearly two decades at the New York Times, and he also wrote for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Opinion, and the Washington Post. He has reported from Tokyo, London, São Paulo, and Mexico City. He is the author of American Poison (2020), on how racial hostility shaped the American social contract, and The Price of Everything (2011), an exploration of the cost-benefit analyses that underpin human behaviors and institutions. Born in Phoenix, he grew up in the United States, Mexico, and Belgium, and he now splits his time between Mexico City and Brooklyn.

Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.

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