Film, Media, and Communications | @uniofeastanglia alum | Development | Water Sanitation | Dreamers' Day & Altan Khalis
#CulturalManagement#CheveningScholar
Neoliberalism, as reflected in the economic reforms of Reagan and Thatcher, played an important role in restoring macroeconomic stability, reducing inflation, liberalizing markets, and reviving private sector dynamism after the stagflation of the 1970s.
At the same time, the model increasingly relied on globalization, financialization, and credit expansion as drivers of growth. Over the following decades, this was associated with several structural trends: rising wealth and income inequality, the decline of manufacturing employment across many advanced economies, and growing dependence on public and private debt to sustain consumption and economic activity.
These outcomes cannot be attributed to neoliberal policies alone. Technological change, demographic shifts, and globalization were also powerful forces. However, the policy framework generally prioritized efficiency, deregulation, and capital mobility over industrial policy, economic resilience, and the broader distribution of economic gains.
One of the most important consequences has been the relative weakening of the middle class. In many advanced economies, wages struggled to keep pace with housing, education, healthcare, and financial asset inflation, making upward mobility increasingly difficult for younger generations. The resulting economic insecurity has contributed to declining trust in institutions, growing political polarization, and the rise of populist movements across both the left and the right.
The policy response today is telling. Many major economies including the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, and others have moved away from the assumption that markets alone will allocate capital optimally.
Industrial policy has returned to the forefront, with governments actively supporting domestic manufacturing, strategic industries, energy security, critical minerals, semiconductors, and resilient supply chains.
In many respects, the current shift toward a stronger “home economy” reflects an attempt to rebalance the excesses of the hyper-globalized model and rebuild productive capacity, economic resilience, and a stronger middle class.
Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness. #MagnificaHumanitas
https://t.co/6i9MWs6LJl