Survival of the Wealthiest: Joseph E. Stiglitz on the Dangerous Failures of Neoliberalism

[Passages]

In Which “the Intellectual Handmaidens of the Capitalists” Are Taken to Task

Joseph Stiglitz

2024


Political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama could even celebrate this as “the end of history,” as our understanding of economic and political systems had converged into the “correct solution”—­market economies and liberal democracies.

There was a search for the best “third way” between the far left and far right, since there was a lot of space between the extremes of the Mont Pelerin Society and communism. It made a big difference exactly where between the two one situated oneself. Politically, this was reflected in battles within and between the center left and center right.

The political debate shaped up most clearly during the presidency of Bill Clinton—­for instance, between those in Clinton’s administration focused on the environment, inequality, and making the economy more competitive, and those focused on debt, interest rates, deregulation, liberalization, and growth. For the most part, the latter group won out.

The system that evolved in the last quarter of the twentieth century on both sides of the Atlantic came to be called neoliberalism. “Liberal” refers to being “free,” in this context, free of government intervention including regulations. The “neo” meant to suggest that there was something new in it; in reality, it was little different from the liberalism and laissez-­faire doctrines of the nineteenth century that advised: “leave it to the market.”
https://lithub.com/survival-of-the-wealthiest-joseph-e-stiglitz-on-the-dangerous-failures-of-neoliberalism/

bio: Joseph Stiglitz

The Roosevelt Institute
https://rooseveltinstitute.org › authors › joseph-stiglitz
Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the cochair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement ...

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