How Neoliberalism Fueled Today’s Crises
Over the last two years, the pandemic has underscored the fragility and hidden risks of our economy’s supply chains, financial systems, and safety net.
The first two months of Russia’s war in Ukraine have deepened that understanding: Sanctions and rising gas prices have spotlighted the moral trade-offs nations and corporations were—and are—making in the name of efficiency and profit.
The shared roots of these macroeconomic crises? Neoliberalism, as Roosevelt Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz argues in a new piece.
“Under the neoliberal globalization regime, firms are supposed to buy from the cheapest source, and if individual firms fail to account appropriately for the risk of being dependent on Russian gas, governments are not supposed to intervene,” he writes.
“We need to start rethinking globalization and its rules. We have paid a high price for the current orthodoxy. Hope now lies in heeding the lessons of this century’s big shocks.”
Read more from Stiglitz in “Shock Therapy for Neoliberals.”
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