Even the IMF Now Admits Neoliberalism Has Failed
Even the IMF Now Admits Neoliberalism Has Failed
Ben Geier
Fortune
Asking if the International Monetary Fund supports economic neoliberalism is like asking if the Pope is Catholic — the answer is so obvious it seems silly to even raise the question. The IMF has been one of the principle endorsers of neoliberalism—an ideology that promotes free markets, free trade, and small government—for decades.
That is what makes it so shocking that the IMF recently released a paper titled “Neoliberalism: Oversold?” questioning the efficacy of a program that has been the basis of mainstream economic policy in most of the Western world since the end of the Cold War.
There are signs that the political tide is turning against neoliberalism in the United States. Voters in the U.S. have cast millions of ballots for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, both of whom have expressed criticism of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, a crowning achievement of 1990s neoliberalism. Even Hillary Clinton, whose husband’s administration helped push the Democratic Party into the neoliberal camp, is being forced by voters to reevaluate her previous positions.
Yep.