Radhika Desai: It’s happening again. Reports of the death of neoliberalism are once again proliferating. Just take a look at the UK Guardian. In the UK Guardian website, there is a whole series of stories whether it is “Neoliberalism is Dying,” “The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism,” “Biden Just Declared the Death of Neoliberalism,” “Is Neoliberalism Finally Over?,” “Is Neoliberalism Finally Dead?” and “Is the Neoliberal Era Over Yet?” And of course there are also contrary views: “The National Institutes of Health Say Neoliberalism is Not Dead.” And there is also a very interesting story in The Jacobin, which says “The Rumors are False: Neoliberalism is Alive and Well.”
Well, this is not the first time that the death of neoliberalism has been announced. I remember back at the end of the 1980s as the IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs were inflicted upon third world country after third world country, each followed in short order by IMF riots against critical food and fuel subsidies being reversed, social spending being cut, joblessness rising, thanks to the recessions induced by these very programs, and a World Bank report at the end of this period essentially admitted that the neoliberal recipe was certainly not working in restoring productive dynamism to any economy upon which it had been inflicted.
Hear the rest of this discussion in the video above.