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Variegated Neoliberalism
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The 2007–09 financial crisis has once again put finance back on the agenda. This book examines financial systems and – albeit indirectly – argues that the crisis is the logical outcome of neoliberal capitalism. The main objective of this study then is to demystify the process (or processes) of neoliberalization. More concretely it focuses on the European case study where historically averse European member states have nonetheless engaged in (variegated) processes of neoliberalization, producing convergent divergence. Finally, it focuses still more closely on EU financial market integration in the post–2000 era. This unique period has witnessed a new degree of impetus in neoliberal reform, with over forty directives aimed at integrating financial markets ratified in just a few years. With hindsight, this enthusiasm is worth questioning.
Opinion is divided, however, over the costs and benefits of neoliberalism. Western policymakers alongside mainstream economists now typically argue for labour market flexibility, the reduction of cross-border trade barriers, and more efficient capital allocation. They reason that such structural reforms produce trickle-down effects on a global scale. On the other hand, some suggest that whilst the millionaires’ yachts cope well with this ‘rising tide’, those in rubber dinghies or – worse – deflated rubber armbands, are slowly drowning.
Despite global institutions’ protestations, neoliberalism systematically fuels rising inequalities and is predicated on a credit-financed mode of capitalism since – at its core – it is an attempt to restore and confirm capitalist class rule (Harvey 2007: 2). It generates a huge redistribution of wealth effects upwards towards the working rich (notably in Europe and the US) – exacerbating income inequalities (Dumenil and Levy 2001; Froud et al. 2001; Montgomerie and Williams 2009: 101).
Huw Macartney - Personal Name
1st Edtion
978–0–203–83634–7
NONE
Variegated Neoliberalism
Economics
English
Routledge
2011
USA
1-205
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