Postneoliberalism or Postcapitalism? The Failure of Neoliberalism in the Financial Market Crisis
Author(s)
Altvater, Elmar
Abstract
The paper traces from emergence to implosion the neoliberal era, starting in the 1970s with the implementation of liberation, deregulation, and privatization policies, and ending in 2008, with the collapse of financial markets, a rise in unemployment, expansion of informal economy, and a global increase in income and wealth inequality. In the mean time, the paper argues, markets have been disembedded from society, nature, real goods, services, and labor. As the result, the author sees a great need to rethink, on a global scale, the relationship between finance and the real economy. He argues that the task requires regulatory measures beyond those offered under Keynesianism. The author tries to understand whether the crisis is of neoliberalism in general or neoliberal capitalism in particular, and whether a postneoliberal financial system is possible under what we know as capitalism. Is the financial socialism that is emerging the answer to the crisis?
