Since 1983 Ghana has become a test case of the efficacy of the World Bank and the IMF's stabilization and adjustment-based lending policies. The government has "bitten the IMF bullet" with a vengeance, with deregulated currency, liberalized trade, slimmed down state-owned enterprises and strengthened bureaucracies as prescribed by the lending institutions. In terms of compliance, Ghana has been a model patient. The outcomes of the policies are, however, only beginning to be documented. This study looks at the lives of Ghanaian men and women after almost ten years of adjustment and reveals adjustment and its concomitant effects as part of a continuous and ongoing process within the contemporary history and development of Ghana. District, regional and national perspectives are also woven into the picture, giving both wider macro- and more qualitative emphases.