The Times They Are A-Changing? Exploring the potential shift away from the neoliberal political-economic paradigm

Laurie Laybourn-Langton (), Laurie Macfarlane and Michael Jacobs
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Laurie Laybourn-Langton: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), University College London (UCL)
Laurie Macfarlane: Institute for Innovation and Public Policy (IIPP), University College London (UCL)
Michael Jacobs: Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield

No 2, Working Papers from Forum New Economy

Abstract: Modern economic history can be roughly split into different eras in which certain sets of ideas dominate politics and policy-making. This paper seeks to understand if a shift in the ‘political economic paradigm’ is currently under way by inspecting the state of debates across a range of economic policy areas. It introduces the concept of ‘orthodox’, ‘modified’ and ‘alternative’ paradigms, corresponding to the status quo, its modification in the face of disruption or changed political goals, and a fundamental break from that status quo, respectively. Its central conclusion is that a significant shift is under way in many economic policy areas in many mainstream economic institutions. This shift has mainly occurred from ‘orthodox’ paradigm approaches – those that might broadly be described as based on neoclassical principles – to a ‘modified’ approach that alters the neoclassical approach in many ways but maintains its fundamental basis. Little to no movement towards what might be described as truly ‘alternative’ paradigm approaches is yet under way, though some mainstream institutions are exhibiting openness to these ideas. As such, an overall paradigm shift away from the dominant neoliberal paradigm is not yet underway.

Keywords: political-economic paradigm; neoliberalism; heterodox economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B20 B25 E00 H10 P16 P50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2019-06, Revised 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-hpe, nep-mac, nep-pke and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:agz:wpaper:1902

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