Masters of the Universe (book)
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''Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics'' is a 2012 book by
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
Daniel Stedman Jones, in which the author traces the intellectual development and political rise of neoliberalism in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally a PhD thesis, the author adapted it into a book. According to Jones, neoliberalism began after the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
as a movement of intellectuals committed to protecting liberal values of individual liberty and limited government, which they believed were threatened in Britain and the United States by expanding government. They aimed to construct a distinctly new liberalism (hence "neo"-liberalism) by charting a middle way between the laissez-faire economics of the pre- Depression era and the " collectivism" of
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism and British social democracy. He argues that between the 1950s and 1970s this commitment evolved into one of greater conviction in the superiority of the free market, such that by the 1980s neoliberal policy proposals centered almost entirely around
market liberalization Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
. Modern neoliberalism, according to Jones, is associated with economic liberalism, monetarism, and a staunch support of free market capitalism, and advocates political policies of
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, privatization, and other market-based reforms. Jones structures the book around what he argues are the three phases of the history of neoliberalism. In the first, lasting from roughly 1920 until 1950, he details how early European neoliberal thinkers like Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
, motivated by expanding government and later the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe during World War II, developed critiques of "collectivism", which to them included British social democracy and American
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism. Particularly influential during this time was the formation of the Mont Pelerin Society, which brought together intellectuals committed to the defense of liberalism and individualism. In the second phase, lasting from roughly 1950 until 1980, the locus of neoliberal thought moved to the United States, where academics like Milton Friedman and George Stigler built upon the earlier neoliberal foundation by developing new academic and political arguments and introducing a range of neoliberal policy prescriptions. During this time, Jones contends neoliberal thought evolved from its more moderate early stance into a "faith" in the power and efficiency of
markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...
. Jones argues that during this period a transatlantic network of intellectuals, businessmen, journalists, and think tanks arose to promote neoliberal ideology, slowly moving neoliberalism out of the political fringes and into the mainstream. The third phase, taking place after 1980, is the period of neoliberal political prominence. After a decade of stagflation in the United States and the United Kingdom, the neoliberal alternative to the Keynesian economic consensus that had dominated politics was adopted by politicians, finding particular influence with US president
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. This era, Jones notes, was characterized by sweeping
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
,
market liberalization Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
, and tax reductions.


Structure

The book is divided into an introduction, seven chapters, and a conclusion. * The introduction summarizes the history of neoliberalism and lays out the structure of the book. * Chapter one ("The Postwar Settlement") provides context for the rise of neoliberalism by briefly describing the development of embedded liberalism and Keynesianism after the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. * Chapter two ("The 1940s: The Emergence of the Neoliberal Critique") discusses the critiques of social democracy by the early neoliberals
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek, and outlines the birth of the Mont Pelerin Society. * Chapter three ("The Rising Tide: Neoliberal Ideas in the Postwar Period) discusses the two Chicago Schools, the relation of
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...
to neoliberalism, the early ideas of Milton Friedman, the
ordoliberal Ordoliberalism is the German variant of economic liberalism that emphasizes the need for government to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential but does not advocate for a welfare state. Ordoliberal ideals ...
s in West Germany, and the economic theories of
regulatory capture In politics, regulatory capture (also agency capture and client politics) is a form of corruption of authority that occurs when a political entity, policymaker, or regulator is co-opted to serve the commercial, ideological, or political interests ...
,
public choice Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science".Gordon Tullock, The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics,
987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two membe ...
2008, "public choice," ''The New Palgrave Dictionar ...
, and
rational choice theory Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that help understand economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postula ...
. * Chapter four ("A Transatlantic Nework: Think Tanks and the Ideological Entrepreneurs") discusses fusionism in the United States, conservatism in Britain during the 1950s, the growth of neoliberal organizations and think tanks from the 1950s through the 1970s, and the spread of neoliberal thought to journalists and politicians. * Chapter five ("Keynesianism and the Emergence of Monetarism, 1945–71) discusses Keynesianism, American economic policy in the 1960s, and the development of monetarism by Milton Friedman. * Chapter six ("Economic Strategy: The Neoliberal Breakthrough, 1971-84") discusses the stagflation of the 1970s in the United States and United Kingdom and how it set the stage for the political rise of monetarism, which ushered in further neoliberal reforms; it continues with a description of the neoliberal policies of British prime ministers
James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
and Margaret Thatcher,
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he ...
, US presidents Jimmy Carter and
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and Chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker. * Chapter seven ("Neoliberalism Applied? The Transformation of Affordable Housing and Urban Policy in the United States and Britain, 1945–2000") considers the effects of neoliberal policies on housing and
urban policy Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
in the United States and the United Kingdom. * The conclusion ("The Legacy of Transatlantic Neoliberalism: Faith-Based Policy") discusses the lasting effects of neoliberalism and lays out the author's belief in the need to return "reason-based policymaking" to political and economic debates.


Summary

The author divides the history of neoliberalism into three phases. In the first phase, lasting from 1920 to 1950, Jones contends that the crises of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and Second World War produced two competing economic ideologies: Keynesianism and neoliberalism. Keynesianism, developed by economist John Maynard Keynes and motivated by the widespread unemployment during the Great Depression, viewed government intervention in the economy as a means to alleviate
economic downturn In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
s and achieve
full employment Full employment is a situation in which there is no cyclical or unemployment#Cyclical unemployment, deficient-demand unemployment. Full employment does not entail the disappearance of all unemployment, as other kinds of unemployment, namely Structu ...
. Neoliberalism, promoted by economists like Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises, and arising out of fears of totalitarian regimes like the Nazis,
Soviet communists The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, and Italian fascists, viewed increasing government intervention as a threat to economic and
political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...
. Early neoliberal thought, according to Jones, focused on defending liberalism and critiquing all forms of collectivism, and in particular on critiquing
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism and British social democracy, which they believed posed a "grave threat to the continued existence of Western civilization". In the second phase, lasting from 1950 to 1980, Jones notes that Keynesianism dominated political policy while neoliberal thought was mostly confined to universities and think tanks. However, it was during this time that neoliberal thought was refined and spread, creating a transatlantic network of intellectuals, businessmen, journalists, university departments and think tanks promoting neoliberal ideas. The locus of neoliberal thought shifted from Europe to the United States, with the American intellectuals Milton Friedman and George Stigler, as well as the larger
Chicago school of economics The Chicago school of economics is a neoclassical school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago, some of whom have constructed and popularized its principles. Milton Friedman and George Stigle ...
they were a part of, becoming increasingly influential. Neoliberal thought evolved: whereas the neoliberalism that had emerged during the interwar years had been a "nuanced response" to war, depression and totalitarian regimes, late-twentieth-century neoliberalism became dominated by
market liberalization Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
and globalization, and galvanized around a defense of the superiority of free markets to government
economic planning Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources b ...
. The third phase, lasting from 1980 onward (the book was released in 2012), is the period of neoliberal political hegemony. Jones suggests that the high inflation and low
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
in the United States and United Kingdom during the 1970s chipped away at the Keynesian political consensus, which seemed unable to address the decade's stagflation. Jones argues that the transatlantic neoliberal network provided a compelling alternative economic ideology—one that conveniently included monetarism, an economic theory dealing with inflation. Jones asserts that this led to the widespread political acceptance of neoliberal policies in the 1980s, which brought with it a greater acceptance of neoliberal ideology. Jones maintains that, contrary to the opinion of some observers, the adoption of neoliberal policies was not an inevitability; they were not necessarily the "right" policies for the challenges of the era, but instead found political power through an "unpredictable, patchy" process that had "luck and historical contingency" as central players. The left-leaning
Carter administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican President ...
and Callaghan government were the first to implement certain neoliberal policies, but neoliberalism would find its greatest impact with US president
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who would each successfully advance agendas of
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, tax cuts, and
market liberalization Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
. Jones argues that while these incremental policy changes did not require a wholesale acceptance of neoliberal philosophy, by the late 1980s that is exactly what had happened. Neoliberal ideas on the superiority of the market and individual liberty became widely accepted by politicians and academics, and Jones contends that this "boundless belief in markets and deregulation" ultimately led to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.


First phase: Early history (1920–1950)

According to Jones, neoliberalism traces its earliest beginnings to the establishment of the
Colloque Walter Lippmann The Colloque Walter Lippmann (English: Walter Lippmann Colloquium), was a conference of intellectuals organized in Paris in August 1938 by French philosopher Louis Rougier. After interest in classical liberalism had declined in the 1920s and 1930s ...
in 1938. The
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
left the reputation of economic liberalism in tatters, and the scholars at the society sought to "reconstruct a theory of liberalism" because they believed that " classical liberalism was under assault". They called this reconstruction "neoliberalism" to signify that they were not simply accepting laissez-faire economics but were developing a new vision of economic liberalism. Ultimately, however, the ideas promoted at the colloquium did not take political hold, and at the outset of World War II the colloquium was largely forgotten. The destruction wrought by totalitarian regimes during World War II would, however, energize a number of liberal thinkers in their opposition to collectivism. From this fear of collectivism emerged the early influential neoliberal texts critiquing social democracy, and led to the formation of a new neoliberal organization by many of the same individuals present at the Colloque Walter Lippman: the Mont Pelerin Society.


Mont Pelerin Society

Jones outlines how, after the catastrophes of World War II, Friedrich Hayek convened a group of intellectuals to combat the trend of increasing government intervention in the United Kingdom and the United States and "develop an organizational and intellectual strategy" to "defend the core tenets of...the freedom of the individual." This group called itself the Mont Pelerin Society, after the venue of its first meeting in Vevey, Switzerland. The society set out to develop a neoliberal alternative to, on the one hand, the laissez-faire economic consensus that had collapsed with the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and, on the other,
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism and British social democracy, collectivist trends which they believed posed a threat to individual freedom. A distinct neoliberal worldview, Jones contends, emerged "on the foundations of the critique of New Deal liberalism and social democracy" developed by the intellectuals of the Society. Jones finds three Mont Pelerin individuals particularly influential:
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek. Popper, in his book '' The Open Society and its Enemies'', criticized thinkers from Plato to Karl Marx for valuing the collective over the individual and derided teleological historicism (a theory which holds that history unfolds inexorably according to universal laws) as a threat to individualism—which he believed underpins Western civilization—because it reduces the individual to "a cog in the machine" of history and empowers governments to engage in the sorts of "Utopian engineering" that has motivated
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
s, socialists, and
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. Mises, in his book ''
Bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
'', argued the superiority of the private market motivated by
profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory intere ...
over the bureaucratic management inherent in government. Hayek, in his book ''
The Road to Serfdom ''The Road to Serfdom'' ( German: ''Der Weg zur Knechtschaft'') is a book written between 1940 and 1943 by Austrian-British economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek. Since its publication in 1944, ''The Road to Serfdom'' has been popular among ...
'', argued effective central planning was impossible because no individual or group could ever possess the requisite knowledge to direct the economic activity of millions of people. The early Mont Pelerin Society, Jones notes, had little effect on political policy. Instead, it acted as "a siren call, a warning about the tragic possibilities of moving in the direction" of greater collectivist government intervention "which Western politics, economy, and society seemed to be moving." Importantly, Jones argues it helped to "create a transatlantic neoliberal network that would...combat the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
and social-democratic political establishments in Britain and the United States", "combat the forces of collectivism", and refine neoliberal thought into a workable set of policies.


Second phase: Emergence of a transatlantic neoliberal network (1950–1980)

Jones outlines how a transatlantic network of neoliberal intellectuals, businessmen, journalists, university departments, and think tanks arose between 1950 and 1980 and, building on the foundations of the critiques of
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism and social democracy of the early neoliberals, refined and popularized neoliberal ideas to the point that "they eventually seemed the natural alternative to liberal or
social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
policies". This network would serve "almost like a kind of Neoliberal International" that would be highly influential in the later adoption of neoliberal policies by the governments of the United States and United Kingdom. During this time, the locus of neoliberal thought shifted from Europe to America, with the American economist Milton Friedman becoming its most influential proponent—its "beating heart", as Jones describes it. Neoliberalism, according to Jones, evolved from an attempt to find a middle way between laissez-faire capitalism and collectivism into a "faith in free markets", often articulating "individual liberty in apocalyptic terms as a struggle between free societies and
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
totalitarianism". Neoliberals of the era emphasized the need to recover "lost truths" from classical liberalism, including the value of individual liberty, the invisible hand of the free market, and the virtues of limited government. By the 1960s, Jones contends, neoliberal thought had established a "distinct and coherent identity" centered around "individual liberty, free markets, spontaneous order, the price mechanism, competition, consumerism, deregulation, and rational self-interest". Additionally, during this period a body of policy prescriptions was injected into neoliberalism. Jones points to an early essay by Milton Friedman entitle
"Neoliberalism and its Prospects"
as a "bridge" between the first phase of neoliberal thought—dominated by European concerns—and the second phase, centered in the United States and concerned more with economic freedom and the superiority of markets. Jones considers the essay a "useful marker of the moment when neoliberalism became a self-conscious political and economic concept in the United States", as it was one of the first instances in which an American writer claimed the neoliberal moniker. In the essay Friedman makes a quintessentially first-phase argument for a "new faith" between collectivism, which he believed leads to an over-mighty state, and laissez-faire economics, which he believed fostered the development of over-mighty individuals. However, the essay marked a "symbolic cutting off point" in neoliberal thought, signifying the point in time when neoliberalism began to shift away from the early "middle way" arguments to a more strident belief in free markets. Friedman himself advocated a level of government intervention in the essay that he would never again publicly support.


Academic thought

According to Jones: "After 1945, a distinct neoliberal worldview was built on the foundations of the critique of
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism and social democracy synthesized in the writings of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
...Its main tenets—philosophical, political, and economic—were worked out in detail by scholars such as Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Gary Becker,
James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
, and
Gordon Tullock Gordon Tullock (; February 13, 1922 – November 3, 2014) was an economist and professor of law and Economics at the George Mason University School of Law. He is best known for his work on public choice theory, the application of economic thinking ...
, as well as Hayek and Mises." Jones asserts that the
Chicago school of economics The Chicago school of economics is a neoclassical school of economic thought associated with the work of the faculty at the University of Chicago, some of whom have constructed and popularized its principles. Milton Friedman and George Stigle ...
, of which Friedman and Stigler were a part, was "perhaps the most influential group in terms of the development of transatlantic neoliberal politics". In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s Chicago economists published influential works arguing for free market policies and extending free market analyses into new regions (e.g. law and regulation). They painted a hostile portrait of trade unions and presented monopolies as mostly benign. The theories of
regulatory capture In politics, regulatory capture (also agency capture and client politics) is a form of corruption of authority that occurs when a political entity, policymaker, or regulator is co-opted to serve the commercial, ideological, or political interests ...
,
public choice theory Public choice, or public choice theory, is "the use of economic tools to deal with traditional problems of political science".Gordon Tullock, 9872008, "public choice," ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. . Its content includes the st ...
, and
rational choice theory Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that help understand economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postula ...
all became influential to neoliberal thought, according to Jones, because they connected the market to politics and the public sector, and helped the neoliberal view of free markets seep into mainstream public and political consciousness. The economist George Stigler argued that government regulatory bodies often become captured by private industry, so that these bodies act in the interests of private corporations rather than in the public's interest—a notion known as "regulatory capture". James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, considered the "fathers of public choice theory", emphasized the imperfections of political institutions and constitutional mechanisms, and argued voters have a tendency to vote their own interest rather than in the public interest.


Milton Friedman and monetarism

Milton Friedman became a leading figure of neoliberal thought and a prominent public intellectual in the 1950s. An American, Friedman was less influenced by the effects of World War II and more by the subsequent
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
between the United States and the Soviet Union. Jones argues that for neoliberals "the Cold War necessitated the unambiguous advocacy of the superiority of the market", and Friedman framed the "war of ideas" between socialism and free-market capitalism as a "life-or-death struggle." Jones argues that "Friedman's significant contribution to neoliberal thought was his connection of economic freedom with
political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...
", which he made in his popular book '' Capitalism and Freedom'' (which Jones describes as the "American '' Road to Serfdom''"). Friedman argued that free markets and liberal democracy are inseparable, that the market guarantees basic political freedoms by ensuring that alternatives are always available (e.g. alternative employment options or alternative goods), guarantees equality by divorcing economic activities from anything unrelated to an individual's
productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...
, and protects dissent by separating economic power (i.e. the ability to make money) from political power (in other words, politicians cannot deprive an individual of employment if they express political dissent). Friedman consistently pointed out his view that "increases in economic freedom have gone hand in hand with increases in political and civil freedom and have led to increased prosperity; competitive capitalism and freedom have become inseparable", and pointed to countries like
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
under Deng Xiaoping and Chile to justify this. Jones notes that Friedman was a harsh critic of government intervention in the economy. A key point of '' Capitalism and Freedom'', according to Jones, was outlining government failure, including in the areas of railroad regulation, labor law, monetary reform, agriculture, public housing, social security legislation,
foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...
, urban redevelopment, and income tax. In '' A Monetary History of the United States'', Friedman blamed the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
on overly tight monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Friedman linked
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
liberalism with socialism and communism, while he considered his own ideas as a part of the classical liberal family. Friedman's development of the macroeconomic theory of monetarism was particularly influential to neoliberalism. Jones argues that the Keynesian consensus that had dominated political thought in the United States and United Kingdom for decades had prioritized low unemployment over inflation. In contrast, by the 1950s neoliberal thinkers began to emphasize inflation. Friedman ultimately developed monetarism, a macroeconomic theory dealing with inflation and the
supply of money In macroeconomics, the money supply (or money stock) refers to the total volume of currency held by the public at a particular point in time. There are several ways to define "money", but standard measures usually include currency in circul ...
that suggested that the Keynesian view that government can achieve
full employment Full employment is a situation in which there is no cyclical or unemployment#Cyclical unemployment, deficient-demand unemployment. Full employment does not entail the disappearance of all unemployment, as other kinds of unemployment, namely Structu ...
at the cost of limited inflation was incorrect and would lead to higher inflation in the long run. Friedman argued that governments and central banks, rather than focusing on employment, should focus on ensuring a constant and predictable level of monetary growth. Jones describes monetarism as "the most consistent, systematic, and significant alternative economic strategy to Keynesian demand management and fine-tuning". This, according to Jones, primed neoliberal theory for political acceptance in the United States and United Kingdom, who would experience persistent stagflation during the 1970s. Jones sums it up as such: "Friedman's monetarist analysis and market solutions grabbed people's attention as a ready-made and plausible alternative strategy o Keynesianismwhen the economy began to unravel n the 1970sunder the weight of stagflation".


Think tanks

In Britain and the United States, the neoliberal right built a "dazzling array of think tanks", which became the preferred vehicle of neoliberal thinkers. Notable among these, according to Jones, were the American Enterprise Institute, the
Foundation for Economic Education The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative, libertarian economic think tank. Founded in 1948 in New York City, FEE is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a member of the State Policy Network. FEE offers pub ...
, the Institute of Economic Affairs, The Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Adam Smith Institute, and a group of think tanks emanating out of the Atlas Foundation, including the Fraser Institute, the Fisher Institute, and the Manhattan Institute. These think tanks brought politicians and businesspeople into contact with neoliberal ideas and thinkers and raised the public profile of free-market policies. In particular, the Heritage Foundation had a significant influence on US president
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
—claiming on its website that nearly two-thirds of the proposals they suggested to him in their policy guide ''
Mandate for Leadership ''Mandate for Leadership'' is a series of books published by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think-tank based in Washington, D.C. They are intended to serve as guidelines for reducing the size and scope of the federal government t ...
'' were implemented—while the Adam Smith Institute had appreciable sway with the Thatcher government. Jones notes that many of these institutes were funded by wealthy businessmen, such as Charles Koch and
Joseph Coors Joseph Coors, Sr. (November 12, 1917 – March 15, 2003), was the grandson of brewer Adolph Coors and president of Coors Brewing Company. Birth and education Coors was born in 1917 to Alice May Kistler (1885–1970) and Adolph Coors II. His sibl ...
.


Relation to conservatism

Free market economics has been associated with the political right, but Jones emphasizes that it is "but one branch" of it. In the United States, he argues that the right had a number of often-competing interests (principally traditionalism, anticommunism, and neoliberalism), but the "distinctive feature of the conservative revival in the 1950s and 1960s was the ability of its disparate elements to unite under the banners of anticommunism and states' rights"—a union that became known as " fusionism". This union, which Jones largely credits
William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...
for achieving, led to the growth of a conservative establishment that would, after decades of decline, rival its liberal opponents. This "pave the way for the later electoral successes of Ronald Reagan", which would usher in neoliberal policies.


Third phase: Policy implementation (1980 onward)

Jones notes that there were two major issues facing the United States and the United Kingdom at the end of the 1960s: the instability of the Bretton Woods international monetary system and high inflation. As Jones describes it: "the late 1960s and early 1970s brought a succession of economic shocks that undermined the postwar international monetary system and pushed the world economy into stormy waters. The final stage in the shift in economic strategy in Britain and the United States, the reason neoliberal ideas found a receptive audience, was the force of these events." The proposed neoliberal solutions of monetarism,
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, and trade union reform, as well as the wealth of neoliberal arguments against the prevailing Keynesian demand management, provided a "powerfully compelling logic", and neoliberal policies were soon adopted by British and American politicians. Yet these economic solutions acted as mere "Trojan horses for a more polemical neoliberal faith in free markets", which would come to dominate politics in the United States and the United Kingdom. Neoliberal policies, according to Jones, were first introduced in the United States by Democratic president Jimmy Carter and in the United Kingdom by
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
prime minister
James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
. However, their approaches were examples of "governments of the left who accept dthe logic of the technical insights of
Friedman Friedman, Friedmann, and Freedman are surnames of German origin, and from the 17th century were also adopted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is the 9th most common surname in Israel (8th among Jews) and most common exclusively Ashkenazi name. They may refer ...
and Stigler in terms of macroeconomic strategy or deregulation without also importing their neoliberal philosophies". It would be their successors,
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom, who Jones argues embodied the neoliberal belief in the "supremacy of the free market". They would also have the greatest impact on neoliberal policy implementation, successfully advancing agendas of deregulation, lower taxes, and market liberalization. He emphasizes the importance of the transatlantic neoliberal network on Reagan and Thatcher, noting that "many of their most important advisers, government colleagues, and supporters were drawn from the transatlantic neoliberal network".


Jimmy Carter and Paul Volcker

Jones argues that the implementation of neoliberal policy in the United States began with US president Jimmy Carter, who Jones notes had been strongly influenced by neoliberal economist George Stigler. During the
Carter presidency Jimmy Carter's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 39th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A History of the Democr ...
(1977–1981) the airline, trucking, and financial industries were deregulated. Jones suggests that "perhaps the single most important economic policy decision made by Carter was his appointment of Paul Volcker in August 1979 to replace eorge WilliamMiller as chairman of the Federal Reserve". Volcker aggressively and successfully targeted inflation by raising interest rates, bringing inflation down from a high point of nearly 15% in 1980 to 3%.


Ronald Reagan

In 1981,
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
became president of the United States. Jones argues that the Reagan administration "followed neoliberal principles influenced particularly by the ideas of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, and
Pat Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative political commentator, columnist, politician, and broadcaster. Buchanan was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, an ...
". This can be seen in the four policy proposals Jones argues Reagan prioritized: # Increased
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
and
market liberalization Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
# Tighter control of the money supply # Tax cuts # Cuts to public spending The administration lifted economic controls on oil, busted the air traffic controller's union and fired all the striking workers (in the United States most air traffic controllers are employed by the federal government), and implemented significant tax cuts, including reducing the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 28%. Jones argues that Reagan's tax cuts were motivated by arguments including the philosophy of limited government promoted by Friedman and other neoliberals; the idea developed by economist Arthur Laffer that tax revenue would increase as tax rates dropped because, as Jones summarized Laffer's argument, "more people would pay taxes and fewer would attempt tax avoidance"; and the belief that lower taxes lead to increased investment by the wealthy, which boosts
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
and thereby benefits all members of society (a belief that would become known as trickle-down economics).


Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979, ushering in a broad range of supply-side reforms and
monetarist Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of governments in controlling the amount of money in circulation. Monetarist theory asserts that variations in the money supply have major influences on national ...
macroeconomic policies. Jones contends that "the key early battle for the Conservative government had been driving through a tough slew of measures to bring the deficit under control and create the conditions for economic recovery in the famous budget of 1981". The government combined budget cuts with a "reorientation of the tax system to provide greater incentives for entrepreneurship". Monetarist policy had first been introduced by the Callaghan Labour government, which had instituted monetary targets and cash limits. Monetarist policy was continued under the Thatcher government. Jones places "the major differences, and the real departure in economic terms, between the Callaghan government and the Conservatives lay in their radicalization of microeconomic policy through various market-based supply-side reforms and their importation of market mechanisms into public service provision".


Effects

Jones believes that the "neoliberal contribution to the political changes of the last third of the twentieth century in Britain and the United States have been massive", and includes not only the considerable reforms that Reagan and Thatcher implemented but also the effects neoliberalism had on introducing "a new economic policy framework... hatgoverned the policies and ambitions of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and Barack Obama". Neoliberalism resulted in a "broad breakdown of the characteristic mid-twentieth century belief in the efficacy and moral superiority of government and collective action" in favor of a belief in the efficacy of markets. Additionally, he notes that neoliberalism was extended into international development and trade through the
structural adjustment Structural adjustment programs (SAPs) consist of loans (structural adjustment loans; SALs) provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to countries that experience economic crises. Their purpose is to adjust the coun ...
policies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, which were dominated by neoliberal economists in the late 20th century. He argues that this ultimately had mixed effects:
"Some of the most powerful insights of eoliberalthinkers did help to address pressing social and economic issues by increasing homeownership or stabilizing persistently high inflation. But such successes were not so numerous as to make the effect of transatlantic neoliberal politics anything better than ambivalent...neoliberal policies tended to affect the most vulnerable members of society in the harshest ways. During the last two decades of the
0th 0th or zeroth may refer to: Mathematics, science and technology * 0th or zeroth, an ordinal for the number zero * 0th dimension, a topological space * 0th element, of a data structure in computer science * Zeroth (software), deep learning softwar ...
century, inequality (the gap between rich and poor),
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
, and
homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
all increased. Unemployment seemingly disappeared as a major problem in the immediate postwar years but returned with a vengeance after the 1970s. Inflation... ascowed...by the uncompromising policies of central bankers and pliant politicians in the early 1980s. In Britain, unemployment and inflation returned during another deep recession by the time Thatcher was forced from office in October 1990."
Furthermore, Jones believes that "the most important reason for the 008financial crisis was the direct result of neoliberal policies" of financial deregulation. He argues that the neoliberal "faith in markets had become divorced from reality", with crisis-level effects.


Reception

The book was a finalist for the Western Social Science Association's 2014 Presidents’ Book Award and shortlisted for the 2012 Gladstone Prize. It has received mixed reviews. '' The Economist'' praised the book as a "bold biography of a great idea", describing it as a "novel and comprehensive history of neoliberalism" that, while "a little thin on character sketches and economics", is a "strong work" by a "fair and nuanced writer". James McAuley, writing in the magazine ''Prospect'', claims that Jones "has produced an ideal kind of intellectual history—an investigation that shows that the reigning free market paradigm was not the inevitable end of progressive policy developments...it was instead a programme that was actively promoted by a network of intellectuals and institutions, and it depended on external political circumstances for its success".
Alejandro Chafuen Atlas Network, formerly known as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups ...
, former president of the
Atlas Economic Research Foundation Atlas Network, formerly known as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups ...
and member of the Mont Pelerin Society, writes in '' Forbes'' that he appreciates that the author's "lengthy exposition of the views shared by these outstanding economists (Friedman, Hayek, and Mises) might encourage many to pay attention to their works". Jennifer Burns, writing in '' The American Prospect'', states that "Jones’s provocative if disconcerting argument deserves wide consideration. So does ''Masters of the Universe'', which does much to help explain the aftermath of 2008 and the ways in which political responses that might have defined another era seem unthinkable in ours". ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' called it "a cerebral, pertinent exegesis on the thinking behind the rise of the New Right", though notes that it is "too scholarly for most general readers". Glenn C. Altschuler, writing in the '' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', states that the author "draws on extensive archival research and interviews with politicians, policy-makers and intellectuals to provide a lucid, richly detailed examination of the evolution of the free-market ideology since the end of World War II". Scott Sumner, writing in the magazine ''Reason'', calls the book "a balanced and informative study of neoliberal thinkers", however he believes that Jones, in his criticism of neoliberalism as prone to market fundamentalism, "misses the bigger picture for three reasons: He underestimates the extent to which neoliberalism was built on impressive economic research, he overstates the extent to which neoliberalism became associated with modern conservatism, and he overstates the neoliberals' opposition to government". Daniel Ben-Ami, writing in '' Financial Times'', praised the book as "clearly written and relevant to a wide audience", noting it "incorporates a wealth of primary material", although he states Jones "fails to capture fully the failures or successes of neoliberal thought". Edward Nik-Khah, writing for the Economic History Association, calls it an "accessible introduction" to the intellectual history of neoliberalism, criticizing it only for "some of Jones’s framing choices" which "get in the way of understanding hecomplex history f neoliberalism. Paul Kelly, writing for the '' London School of Economics Review of Books'', criticizes the book as being "overambitious", lamenting that "the connections between the various eoliberalthinkers are ambiguous, fortuitous or at best under explained" and stating that the book "sadly fails to deliver on its promise" of delivering "an analysis and critique of the dominant language of political economy of the last four decades – neoliberalism"; he also criticizes the book for "assuming a polemical concept (neoliberalism) as an ideological unity".
Kenneth Minogue Kenneth Robert Minogue (September 11, 1930 – June 28, 2013), also known as Ken Minogue, was an Australian academic and political theorist. Long residing in the United Kingdom, Minogue was a prominent part of the intellectual life of British ...
, writing for '' The Wall Street Journal'', claims that, while the book "has intelligent things to say", its "historical virtues are compromised by more adjectival attitudinizing than a chronicler of history should allow himself"; for instance, "free-market ideas are characterized as 'aggressive,' 'relentless' and 'uncritical,' culminating in the description of market enthusiasm as a 'holy grail' and the use of a variety of religious metaphors designed to suggest that it is irrational". Greg Kaza, writing in the ''
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics The ''Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering heterodox economics published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.Lee, Frederic S., and Cronin, Bruce C. (2010)"Research Quality Rankings of Hetero ...
'' published by The Mises Institute, criticized the book for neglecting to include information from the archives of Ludwig von Mises and for selective reporting on the 1960s-era U.S. civil rights movement. The title has been criticized by Edward Nik-Khah, who notes that the book does not explicitly state who, exactly, the "masters of the universe" are.


Further reading

* For further analysis of the intellectual development of neoliberalism: * For a survey of early neoliberal thought by a number of academics: * For a short summary of neoliberalism: * For a positive analysis of neoliberalism: Yergin, Daniel; Stanislaw, Joseph (1998). ''The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy''. Free Press. . * For a neo-Marxist critique and a description of the geographic spread of neoliberalism:


References

{{reflist Neoliberalism 2012 non-fiction books English non-fiction books Books in political philosophy Princeton University Press books