Luís’s Reviews > Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction > Status Update

(...) Thus, we can end by saying that while it would be premature to pronounce neoliberalism dead, it would be equally foolish to deny that a crisis-ridden world has begun to flirt once again with Keynesian principles.

(...) In the global South, similar voices of national-populism blamed neoliberal globalization and the expansion of American power for economic decline and cultural decay. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for example, pledged to protect his nation from such 'neoliberal internationalism'.

(...) President Néstor Kirchner, a self-styled 'centrist-Perónist', responded to this threat by implementing price and tax agreements with businesses. But his multi-year price freezes on electricity and natural gas rates for residential users only stoked consumption and kept private investment away, leading to restrictions on industrial use and blackouts in 2007.

Since assuming power in 2003, President Hu Jintao has pursued neoliberal reforms across critical areas such as science and technology, intellectual property rights, and trade policy. At the same time, however, his government has remained committed to a state-managed transition to a market system. For example, the CCP continues to control the prices and supply of water and power. (...)

(...) On the other hand, supporters of market globalism praised its ability to fuel robust economic growth and supply consumers in the developed world with inexpensive consumer goods from the developing world, which also helped raise living standards in those disadvantaged regions. Indeed, we must now turn to the global South to continue our exploration and evaluation of the varieties of neoliberalism.

(...) But these tax cuts also benefited some powerful US corporations, such as Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft. The compensation packages of American CEOs soared to new heights during the 1990s, while wages stagnated or grew only marginally. Indeed, the 2000 National Census Data would reveal a dramatic widening of economic disparities in America.

Reagan warmed up to the public choice/new federalist approach because it provided an appealing rationale for regulatory restraint. Believing in the value of rigorous economic statistical tools for assessing policy decisions, he signed Executive Order 12291, which required federal agencies to use cost-benefit analysis in appraising government regulatory proposals. (...)

(...) Rather, it was a profoundly political and moral force that shaped all other aspects of a free and open society. Surprisingly, however, the members of the Mont Pelerin Society occasionally strayed into conservative ideological territory by emphasizing the limits of human rationality and the importance of time-honoured values and traditions in the constitution of human societies.