"New" And "Old" In Economic Neoliberalism

In the evolution of economic history, the economic neoliberalism can be considered one of the most important. On the one hand, neoliberalism is a promoter of freedom in decision making process and competition. On the other hand, the market and its capability to supply information for the individuals and firms represents one of the central pillars for economic growth, development and profitability. Finally, we cannot ignore the diversity of neoliberal ideas, the number of promoters, and the global extension of neoliberalism. For these reasons, we consider that a short incursion in the history of neoliberalism is also actual and necessary. In the recent evolution of the neoliberal doctrine we can mention several important stages in the 20th century. During the first stage - between the first and second decade - Mises revived the School of Vienna, in his attempts to combat the concepts strongly promoted in the economic theory by the socialist doctrine. The second stage, comprised between the third decade and the end of the fourth decade, was an unfavourable period, during which the concepts of liberal orientation were strongly criticized. The third stage of the neoliberalism evolution, as a doctrine, can be placed between the last part of the fourth decade and the end of the fifth decade, having as object of debate the criticizing of the concepts launched in the economic literature by John Maynard Keynes. The fourth stage meant the entry of neoliberalism in a shadow cone, which lasted from the beginning of the 1950's until towards the middle of the 1970's, due to the popularity "enjoyed" by keynesism. The failure to apply the keynesist theories, declared in the second half of the 1970's, meant the entry of neoliberalism in an extended stage of development, which lasted until towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century. After year 2008, there are voices stating that the neoliberal principles are unable to find the answer to the world economic crisis and that, in fact, their promotion to such a wide scale contributed to this negative evolution of the economy.