Background
When oil shocks and stagflation hit Keynesian welfare states in the 1970s, neoliberal ideas drawn from Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (1944) and Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom (1962) gained ground. In George and Wilding's typology this is the anti-collectivist New Right.
Main claims
- High welfare spending and taxes blunt incentives to work and invest.
- Universal benefits breed dependency and moral hazard, so means-tested targeting is preferable.
- Public services should be privatised or marketised to gain efficiency.
- Benefits should be tied to work obligations (workfare).
Evaluation
Supporters credit it with fiscal discipline and efficiency; critics blame it for wider inequality and poverty, insecure jobs and a weaker public sphere. Giddens's Third Way later sought a middle path.
References
- Hayek, F. A. (1944). The Road to Serfdom. Routledge.
- Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. University of Chicago Press.
- George, V., & Wilding, P. (1994). Welfare and Ideology. Harvester Wheatsheaf.
- Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.