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About the video: Top-Notch112 wrote: LATIN AMERICA: LIFE & DEBT PART 1 OF 5 Life and Debt: This captivating documentary uses Jamaica as a case study to portray the impacts on Third World countries of Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) and the broader processes of trade liberalization and economic globalization they have helped intensify. SAPs refer to the collection of economic reforms that debtor countries have been forced to implement as a condition for receiving loans from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Typical structural "adjustments" include currency devaluations, reductions in government spending, higher interest rates, privatization of state industries, and reductions in trade barriers, such as import tariffs and quotas. These reforms and their effects are explored in the film from a wide variety of perspectives, including those of local farmers & factory workers.