Thread by @Noahpinion

1/Here is a thread about neoliberalism.

At the beginning of this year I was elected "Chief Neoliberal Shill", but the true Chief Neoliberal Shill has always been Brad @delong.

In 1999, he wrote the following neoliberal manifesto:
j-bradford-delong.net/Politics/neoli…

2/DeLong's case for neoliberalism is basically:

It's not about YOU, rich-country person. It's about people in poor countries.

Neoliberalism, he says, is the best (only?) way for the world to recover from the inequalities generated by colonialism and unequal industrialization.

3/As DeLong expresses it, neoliberalism is basically:

A) Poor countries embrace free-ish markets along with smart growth-oriented policies

B) Rich countries invest their money in poor countries

C) Poor countries get richer

D) The economic legacy of colonialism goes away

4/When DeLong wrote that, in 1999, the neoliberal program had only just started to see success.

But in the following decades, developing-world catch-up has accelerated.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

5/Giant countries like India, Indonesia, and others have started catching up with the West, thanks to a combination of freer markets and smart pro-growth policy - i.e., the neoliberal prescription.

6/And finally, the legacy of inequality wrought by colonialism and unequal industrialization is starting to go away.
ourworldindata.org/global-economi…

7/A friend of mine once said that neoliberals are "SJWs who don't hate capitalism". And DeLong's conception of neoliberalism is a perfect illustration of this.

DeLong's neoliberalism says:
Industrialization is not a white man's game. It is not the privilege of colonizers.

8/DeLong's neoliberalism says: Indian people, and Indonesian people, and Bangladeshi people, and Ethiopian people can master the industrial mixed economy - a blend of capitalism and social democracy - just as well as British or French people. Maybe better!

9/This is not a program for equality between people within nations - which is why DeLong calls neoliberalism a "counsel of despair".

But it IS a program for equality between nations - which is why DeLong calls neoliberalism a "counsel of hope".

10/And that program appears to be working.

11/Obviously, lots of people toss around the word "neoliberalism", using it to mean anything from Obama-style centrism to Ayn Rand-style feudalist libertarianism.

But I like DeLong's version best.

Neoliberalism as the most expeditious antidote to colonialism.

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