The Hindu : Arts / Books : An epitaph for neoliberalism

The Hindu : Arts / Books : An epitaph for neoliberalism

An epitaph for neoliberalism

by Arvind Sivaramakrishnan

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism — The Collapse of an Economic Order? Edited by Kean Birch and Vlad Mykhnenko.

The dominant political economy of our age is brilliantly analysed here, by 13 accomplished scholars from a range of disciplines, in a clear, highly informative, and even entertaining collection.

Neoliberal policies are a disaster. In 30 years, liberalisation has produced only €1.3 trillion, or barely twice the total U.S. and European bank bailouts. Furthermore, the public guarantees for banks amount to €6 trillion. Neoliberalism has also financialised the major economies and commodified almost all of life. Global financial assets totalled $595.3 trillion in 2007, or 11 times the world's annual output, and vast profits are made from managing money, not from using it....