Down with “Liberismo†?

This paper is a discussion of a new book by Andrea Boitani entitled Le illusioni del liberismo. “Liberismo†, in the present day, is more or less synonymous with the American “neo-liberalism†. The author of the book argues that it is concerned with a hateful “market ideology†that has spread like a virus. But it turns out that his aim is more ambitious: to identify, in economic theory itself, the roots of “liberismo†. If he were right, economics itself would be included in what he calls the neo-liberal “project†. In this paper, it is argued that Boitani’s contention is based on several misunderstandings, conceptual errors (that selfishness derives from rationality) and factual errors (that economists recommend selfishness, and recommend it as enjoined by rational behaviour).