Neoliberal Growth Regimes and Labour: Some Core Concerns

Abstract

Over the past few decades, since the early 1970s, a laissez-faire ideology has acquired hegemonic dominance, which we term ‘growth fundamentalism’. Within the alternative political economy tradition, this period is viewed as a neoliberal macroeconomic policy regime in which the link between growth and any possibility of improving the well-being of the majority of the population has been virtually severed. In short, the claim that focusing solely on growth has any theoretical or empirical validity is unfounded. The idea that growth alone is the panacea for achieving desirable multidimensional indicators of well-being is nothing more than ‘growth fundamentalism’, and hence, a flawed concept. An alternative conceptual framework presents that addressing inequality can also ensure economic growth, while the reverse has always been highly questionable.

JEL Codes: P11, P16, P21, D63, F43