This article describes the neoliberal experiment of the 1990s in Peru, placing it in its historical context. The central hypothesis is that in that decade the Peruvian economy has lacked an operational system of monetary and fiscal policies capable of functioning without giving rise to serious disturbances in the level of economic activity. The monetary authorities do not possess the basic instruments which have been used in the past to handle adverse external shocks affecting the Peruvian economy, because of two structural reforms carried out in the financial field: the dollarization of the banking system and the opening-up of the capital account. The article consists of seven sections. It begins with a brief introduction (section I);. It then describes the neoliberal experiment of the 1990s, placing it in its immediate historical context (section II);; analyses the role which has been played by the growth strategy, the international economic situation and macroeconomic policy in the long-term performance of the Peruvian economy (section III);; describes the way in which adverse external shocks were handled in the period from 1950 to 1975 (section IV);; examines the evolution of macroeconomic policy in the 1990s, analysing its limitations (section V);; illustrates these limitations in the light of recent macroeconomic experience (section VI);, and ends with some conclusions (section VII);.