Neoliberalism

Ah, finally. I have been waiting for this moment. It is about time that the jargon is discussed publicly. The jargon was made famous in Indonesia by the president candidates who were rushing to attack their opponents. It becomes the buzzword of the year. Neoliberalism.

I have heard it for quite some time without having a clear idea about what exactly it means. Those politicians and the so-called economic experts (pengamat?) only add more to my confusion. It seems like they throw everything that they dislike into this jargon. Perhaps a conference should be held to define neoliberalism ;-). It is absurd to attack something that is so vague, isn't it?

I always think that it is about state intervention vs market mechanism. But as everyone knows, laissez faire is a just ghost. It is not real. There is no such thing as pure capitalism where state intervention is absent.

But then, there is this argument that neoliberalism is not about economic policy. It's about philosophy. It's about the way people see reality i.e. everything is at the mercy of market mechanism. With or without state intervention, neoliberalism can still prevail. But where does this view lead us to? What could we do about it? How would that translate into policy?

So, it all boils down to policy. I am afraid there is not much the would-be-elected president could do in the current economic situation despite the debate during the campaign. Reality bites. Still, it is quite an interesting and relevant discussion particularly when countries worldwide are seriously considering and evaluating their macroeconomic policy and when capitalism is being revisited.