It’s rare that one can use the term “instant classic” in a book review, but Gary Gerstle’s latest economic history, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, warrants the praise.
It puts neoliberalism, defined as a “creed that prizes free trade and the free movement of capital, goods and people,” as well as deregulation and cosmopolitanism, in a 100-year historical context, which is crucial for understanding the politics of the moment, not just in the US but globally. The book also knits together a century of very complicated economic, political, and social trends, which are often siloed but are in fact quite interrelated, creating a new and important narrative about where America has been, and where it may be going.
One of the most useful things Gerstle does for readers is to blow up the usual definitions of conservative and liberal, at least in terms of how US economic history is framed. Former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and both Bushes were “conservative”, while their Democrat peers Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were “liberals”. And yet all of them could be described as neoliberals, in the sense that many of their economic policies were at core about unleashing (or at least not restraining) capitalism, with the underlying belief that markets would, indeed, know best.