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Market Privilege: The Place of Neoliberalism in American Political Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2021

Timothy P. R. Weaver Open the ORCID record for Timothy P. R. Weaver [Opens in a new window]
Timothy P. R. Weaver*
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University at Albany, SUNY
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Abstract

Since the 1970s, the neoliberal worldview has become reflected increasingly in the policy ideas and institutional innovations advanced by both major parties in the United States. This is most obvious in the realm of economic and social policy, but especially evident at the subnational level, particularly in the city. I argue that neoliberalism, as an ideology, a set of policy prescriptions, and institutional designs, is conceptually distinct from liberalism, especially in its “New Deal” form, social democracy, and from conservatism. Moreover, it is having a developmental effect—neoliberal ideas and institutions have proved durable. This article argues that an urban lens most strikingly reveals the presence of a neoliberal political order that has also made its mark on national political institutions, particularly in the American political economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in American Political Development , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , April 2021 , pp. 104 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

There was an error in the abstract in the original online version of this article. It has been corrected here and a corrigendum has been published.

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121. Jones, Masters of the Universe.

122. Blyth, Great Transformations, 152.

123. Ibid., 152.

124. Hacker and Pierson, “Winner-Take-All Politics,” 176.

125. Bond markets, for example, act as if rising debt will result in higher inflation. Therefore, they charge an “inflation premium,” resulting in higher borrowing costs for the state.

126. Blyth, Great Transformations, 171.

127. Eisner, The American Political Economy, 122.

128. ERTA also reduced the lowest rate from 14 to 11 percent and, crucially, indexed the income tax brackets against inflation, thereby eliminating “bracket creep.”

129. Notably, the bottom rate was increased from 11 to 15 percent.

130. It also raised the inheritance tax threshold from $600,000 to $1 million.

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146. Ibid., 177.

147. Hacker, “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State,” 244.

148. Ibid., 249.

149. Ibid., 256.

150. Hacker and Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics; Hacker and Pierson, “Winner-Take-All Politics.”

151. Hacker and Pierson, “Winner-Take-All Politics,” 154.

152. Hacker and Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics, 4, 6.

153. Hacker and Pierson, “Winner-Take-All Politics,” 186–96.

154. Ibid., 179–82.

155. Ibid., 174.

156. Ibid., 175, emphasis added.

157. Ibid., 175.

158. Jones, Masters of the Universe.

159. Blyth, Great Transformations.

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163. Ibid., 151.

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165. Ibid., 173.

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167. Skowronek, Presidential Leadership in Political Time, 4.

168. Ibid., 97–98.

169. Ibid., 97.

170. Ibid., 105–109.

171. Ibid., 109.

172. Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make, 97.

173. Eisner, The American Political Economy.

174. Soss et al., Disciplining the Poor.

175. Peck, Workfare States; Soss et al., Disciplining the Poor.

176. Skowronek, Presidential Leadership in Political Time, 4.

177. Richard Kreitner, “What Time Is It? Here's What the 2016 Election Tells Us about Obama, Trump, and What Comes Next,” The Nation, November 22, 2016, https://www.thenation.com/article/what-time-is-it-heres-what-the-2016-election-tells-us-about-obama-trump-and-what-comes-next/.

178. Ibid.

179. King and Smith, Still a House Divided; Rogers M. Smith and Desmond S. King, “White Protectionism in America,” Perspectives on Politics ( May, 2020): 1–19, doi:10.1017/S1537592720001152