The ‘strange non-death’ of economic models: how modelling contributed to neoliberal resilience in Denmark

Niels Fuglsang

New Political Economy, 2023, vol. 28, issue 5, 731-743

Abstract: Scholars have attributed the resilience of the neoliberal policy paradigm to external pressure on governments by giant corporations and to features of the neoliberal idea itself. This article proposes a different explanation based on the political influence of the economic models that governments use for policy planning. I develop a theoretical perspective to capture how economic models, rather than being mere analytical tools, are policy tools with an overt objective function and a covert political function. To illustrate the value of the theory, I use a qualitative case-study approach to analyse how politicians in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis used economic models before and during the 2011–2015 Social Democratic Thorning-Schmidt government in Denmark. I show how the Danish Finance Ministry’s model worked as a weapon, a game board and a shield to discredit certain policies while promoting other policies, and in the process contributing to neoliberal resilience.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2023.2172147

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