Neoliberalism and patterns of economic performance: 1980 to 2000

Joseph Cohen () and Miguel A. Centeno

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Neoliberal discourse often produces the impression that the world has undergone a wholesale shift toward laissez-faire and that this shift has produced economic prosperity. This article examines national economic data to discern the degree to which (1) governments have in fact retreated from the market and (2) countries have enjoyed increasing economic prosperity over a period in which they have supposedly been liberalizing. The evidence is mixed on both counts. Although international capital mobility and trade liberalism appears to have grown over the past two decades, there is little evidence of a broad scaling back of governments. Over the same period, countries have not experienced any appreciable improvement in growth, cross-national equality, employment, or national debt loads, although there is some evidence of improved price stability near the end of the 1990s.

Keywords: trade; neoliberalism; structural adjustment; Latin America; economy; transfers; budget; spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 N1 O2 P1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 606 (2006): pp. 32-67

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:22436

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