Neoliberalism: An entrenched but exhausted growth regime

Mark Setterfield

No 2120, Working Papers from New School for Social Research, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper analyzes Neoliberalism in the US economy with a view to identifying the effects of Neoliberalism on macroeconomic performance since 1990, underlying problems with the structure of the Neoliberal economy, and the effects of Neoliberalism on the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that Neoliberalism 'worked' from 1990-2007 by combining an 'incomes policy based on fear' that permitted non-inationary growth and low unemployment with a debt-financed, consumption-led demand regime that, as evidenced by the 2007-09 financial crisis and Great recession, was unsustainable. Since 2009 Neoliberalism has proved to be an entrenched but exhausted growth regime, producing only a 'depressed upswing' 2009-2019 that was terminated by the onset of the COVID-19 recession -- the response to which was neither efficient nor equitable. The paper concludes that at this juncture, the epithet 'build back better' must be applied to the entire US economy.

Keywords: Neoliberalism; incomes policy based on fear; depressed upswing; COVID-19 recession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 E12 E31 E32 E64 E66 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2021-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-mac and nep-pke
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http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/econ/2021/NSSR_WP_202021.pdf First version, 2021 (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Neoliberalism: An Entrenched but Exhausted Growth Regime (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:new:wpaper:2120

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