Neoliberalism as an asocial ideology and strategy in education

There have been many neoliberal education reforms around the world. At the bottom line, those reforms are intended to modify the education system based upon market principles. Reviewing and contrasting various perspectives on education (Adam Smith, Marxists, Veblen, Dewey, and neoclassicists), I argue that: 1) neoliberalism is an asocial ideology of the ruling class in the capitalist system, 2) neoliberalism justifies and propagates market principles in education, 3) there is a discontinuity between classical liberalism and neoliberalism, and 4) when it comes to Korean education reforms, neoliberalism has two contradictions and counter-movements which hinder the realization of market principles in education. I dedicate this paper to the late Dr. William D. Williams (1945–2004), for his encouragement and inspiration. I would also like to thank John F. Henry, Frederic S. Lee, James I. Sturgeon, and Douglas M. Meader for their throught-provoking comments. Final responsibility rests with the author.     

Review essay

Regulatory reforms which are implemented in many developing countries after market reforms constitute a conflict-ridden process generating complex tensions between governments, independent regulatory agencies, international institutions and private interest groups. By criticising the mainstream a-historical approaches, which reduce those tensions to the reluctance of interest-maximising politicians to delegate power, this article locates current reforms within the historical context of the trajectory of neoliberalism. In the case of Turkey, rather than undertaking comprehensive regulatory reform, the governments of the 1980s implemented ad-hoc strategies within the existing system, which corroded and de-legitimised the old institutional structures and facilitated market reforms. Yet, the same strategies created an institutional structure producing its own vested political and economic interests which gave its specific colour to the form and pace of current regulatory reform. The article derives insights from the Turkish case in order to re-think the crucial relation between politics and regulation, and between choices available to and constraints faced by policy makers and to re-conceptualise the role of unintended consequences by refuting any ideal typical understanding of neoliberalism.     

Thinking Like an Economist: The Neoliberal Politics of the Economics Textbook

This article surveys 10 introductory economics textbooks to examine whether and how economics contributed to the rise of neoliberalism. It defines neoliberalism as a political rationality characterized by market constructivism. In contrast with conventional liberal approaches that view limited government as legitimized by the failure of naturalist markets, neoliberalism constructs the market as norm and means of government. Economics textbooks overall have a liberal outlook, as exemplified by Samuelson's classic, however, with three liberal subgenres: the imperfect market view, the free market view, and an institutionalist view. While the introductory textbook cannot be construed as an instruction manual for neoliberalism, the article nevertheless identifies two important neoliberal moments: the discussion of market-based forms of government and the rise of a new genre of principles textbook that urges students to “think like an economist.” The article concludes with novel insights on how economics may have contributed to the spread of neoliberalism.     

School Performance in Australia: Is There a Role for Quasi‐Markets?

Recent changes to the organisation of Australia's education system have raised the possibility of implementing wide‐ranging market reforms. In this article we discuss the scope for introducing reforms similar to the United Kingdom's ‘quasi‐market’ model. We discuss the role of school league tables in providing signals and incentives in a quasi‐market. Specifically, we compare a range of unadjusted and model‐based league tables of primary school performance in Queensland's public education system. These comparisons indicate that model‐based tables which account for socio‐economic status and student intake quality vary significantly from the unadjusted tables.     

The Managerial Lineages of Neoliberalism

Managerialism is often depicted as a key practice of neoliberalism yet relatively little has been written by scholars of neoliberalism about the actual relationship between managerialism and neoliberalism. Usually subsumed under a functional reading of neoliberalism, managerialism has too often been understood simply as a means for neoliberal ends (i.e. to promote market rule or competition). This paper challenges this perspective on the grounds that it conflates practices that stem from two different historical lineages. As we show, managerial governance not only has a very different history than neoliberal theory, but it also rests on different principles. Its development can be traced back to the US defence sector in the 1950s and the pivotal role of the RAND Corporation. On the basis of this historical perspective, we argue for the need to analyse managerialism on its own terms and make the case for considering the rise of managerial science as a paradigmatic shift in governance. In doing so, we show how managerial governance represented a radical rupture from previous management practices and show how it profoundly reshaped how we have come to understand governance.     

Growth effects of structural reforms in Southern Europe: the case of Greece,Italy, Spain and Portugal

This paper develops a semi-endogenous growth model for analysing the intertemporal effects of structural reforms in Southern European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece). The model follows the product-variety paradigm in a semi-endogenous setting, and includes a disaggregation of labour into different skill groups. We use a comprehensive set of structural indicators in order to calibrate the model to important macroeconomic ratios and levels of productivity and employment. Our results show that structural reforms yield significant economic gains in the medium and long run. The results point to the importance of product market reforms and labour market related education and tax reforms as the most promising areas of structural policy interventions. This paper also argues for placing more emphasis on education policy which is key in upgrading the labour force, especially in these countries where the share of low skilled labour is among the highest in the euro area.     

The Effect of the Quasi–market on the Efficiency–equity Trade–off in the Secondary School Sector

Britain’s education system was radically transformed during the 1990s following the Education Reform Act (1988). The primary objective of these reforms was to raise educational standards through the creation of a quasi–market based upon greater parental choice and the transfer of control over resources from local education authorities to schools. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the quasi–market on efficiency and equity in the secondary education sector in England during the 1990s. Two primary questions are addressed. Has the quasi–market led to an improvement in efficiency in the secondary education sector? Has the quasi–market had any adverse consequences on the social segregation of pupils between schools? Using data obtained from the Schools’ Census and the School Performance Tables, we find strong evidence that the quasi–market has led to a substantial improvement in efficiency (as measured by a school’s exam performance and by the productivity of staff) during the 1990s. The same market forces have led to a greater social segregation of pupils between schools.     

支农资金整合的阶段划分和路径设计：基于政府主导与市场化的协同

从理论上说,支农资金整合中政府主导的资金整合与市场化整合这两个问题能够而且应当在公共财政政策的框架下予以解决。但我们通过数学推导得出：两项改革的同时推进在现阶段存在着一定冲突。两项改革路径间悖论的解决必须借助于协同治理机制,即分阶段、分重点地实现两项改革的综合推进。协同治理框架的根本问题在于如何确定相应的阶段选择标准。按照趋利避害、稳步推进的基本原则和弹性标准,我国支农资金整合效果的优化应首先以政府主导的支农资金整合为重点,然后推行市场化整合,最后实现综合治理。     

Neoliberalism,Polanyi’s Protective Response,and Veblenian Waste

As capitalism unfolds, continual technological advance — in combination with the relentless accumulation imperative — serves to amplify material progress. The expanding economic sphere begins to pervade the everyday lives and thinking of the individual. The institutionalization of the market fundamentally changes the structure of society and, in so doing, fundamentally changes the institutional structure through which individuals are socialized. The social dislocation generated therein prompts Karl Polanyi’s protective response. Despite this market intensification, the existence of the economic surplus undermines the syllogistics of market-determined pricing. Evidence of the economic surplus and Veblenian waste as well as of the fact that the competitive law of value is not operable under neoliberalism is found in the lobby industry and campaign contributions. This research seeks to explicitly connect the concepts of Polanyi’s protective response with Veblenian waste and the economic surplus in order to better understand how the irrational system of neoliberalism continues to evolve.     

Economic returns to schooling in urban China, 1988 to 2001

This study provides estimates of the returns to schooling in urban China over an extended period of economic reforms. We find a dramatic increase in the returns to education, from only 4.0 percent per year of schooling in 1988 to 10.2 percent in 2001. Most of the rise in the returns to education occurred after 1992 and reflected an increase in the wage premium for higher education. The rise is observed within groups defined by sex, work experience, region, and ownership, and is robust to the inclusion of different control variables. The timing and pattern of changing schooling returns suggest that they were influenced strongly by institutional reforms in the labor market that increased the demand for skilled labor. Journal of Comparative Economics 33 (4) (2005) 730–752.     

新自由主义经济学中的政府观及其启示

新自由主义经济学各流派是现代经济学丛林中的奇葩。在充分肯定市场作用的前提下,具有各不相同的政府观。了解和认识新自由主义经济学各流派的政府观,并进行系统比较和总结,对中国在全球化背景下形成和构建政府观具有极其重要的意义。     

对财税体制改革在全面深化改革中发挥支撑作用的思考

公共财政是推动变革的核心力量,随着国家职能的转变,公共财政也必须转变.如果财税体制改革滞后,则会影响其他改革进程;如果财税改革能适应时代的要求,则会在全面深化改革中起支撑性作用.本文认为,在全面深化改革中财税体制改革发挥支撑作用所应遵循的三个原则是处理好政府与市场的关系、集权与分权的关系以及整体规划与稳步推进的关系;而财税体制改革发挥支撑性作用的三项主要工作是调整政府间收入分配,强化预算管理和加强相关领域的改革研究,重视监督机制建设.     

Reforms to Schooling in the UK: A Review of Some Major Reforms and their Evaluation

Abstract. We aim to give a brief overview of some important reforms to the school system in the UK and existing evidence on their consequences. These reforms include a change in the type of secondary school open to pupils – from a selective to comprehensive system; a change in the examination system; quasi-market reforms; area-based initiatives; reforms to the content and structure of teaching; payments to encourage the pursuit of education beyond compulsory schooling.     

企业家人才市场建设势在必行

在21世纪,我们面对的是更加复杂而竞争激烈的生存环境。企业的发展更加需要善经营懂管理的企业家。企业家队伍的成长既需要教育、培养和在经营管理的实践中造就,也需要有企业家市场,企业家市场的建设,可以促使企业家的竞争、流动和素质的提高。而企业家人才市场的建设是一项涉及到多方面问题的复杂工作,只有进行相应的配套改革,才能保证这项工作的顺利进行。     

Industrial Relations Reform: Chasing a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?

This article reviews the economy‐wide effects of the Work Choices and Fair Work reforms to Australia's industrial relations system. Outcomes examined are wages growth and earnings inequality, labour market adjustment, labour productivity growth and industrial disputes. Little evidence is found of an effect from the industrial relations reforms made in the 2000s. I argue that this is consistent with the nature of the reforms, being primarily oriented to distributive rather than efficiency goals. I finish by describing how private interest can explain current lobbying for further reform to Australia's industrial relations system.     

Policy reforms and asymmetric price transmission in the Zambian and Tanzanian coffee markets

Several governments in sub-Saharan Africa have embarked on various market reforms to improve commodity market performance. However, the success of such market reforms depends partly on the strength of the transmission of price signals between spatially separated markets and between different levels of commodity value chains. This study employs momentum threshold cointegration and error correction models to examine the impact of policy reforms on the transmission of prices between the world coffee market and domestic prices in Zambia and Tanzania. The findings show that in the case of Zambia, where policy reforms liberalized coffee markets, the producer prices respond more swiftly to decreases than increases in world market prices, and this swiftness increased after the policy reforms. For Tanzania, where reforms resulted in increased government intervention, producer prices were found to respond quicker to increases than decreases in world market prices over the period under consideration. However, the period before reforms showed domestic prices responding more swiftly to decreases than increases in world prices, while the post-reform period was characterized by faster responses to increases than decreases in world prices.     

Impact of Korean pro-market reforms on firm innovation strategies

This paper investigates how market-oriented reforms affect firm incentives to innovate. We utilise the market reforms enacted in Korea following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 as an empirical setting to show why an institution-based view is crucial to understanding the factors that incentivize firms to innovate. Additionally, we draw on the competitive strategy literature to investigate how market reforms – combined with industry competition and firm-specific factors – affect innovation-related investments. Our findings suggest that market reforms positively influence both innovation input and output, but these associations are contingent on firm-specific factors.     

Returns to schooling in Kazakhstan

This paper examines rates of return to schooling in Kazakhstan using OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) and instrumental variable (IV) methodologies. We use spouse's education and smoking as instruments. We find that spouse's education is a valid instrument and that conventional OLS estimates that assume the exogenous nature of schooling, and hence do not control for endogeneity bias, may underestimate the true rates of return. The results indicate that the returns to schooling in Kazakhstan have increased with transition. This may reflect the relative scarcities of highly educated people in Kazakhstan with human capital that employers require and, following the market reforms, reward accordingly.     

The Pattern of IMF Lending: An Analysis of Prediction Failures

In a constantly changing economic environment, a country's ability to undertake institutional reforms is crucial to maintain economic growth and to promote the welfare of its citizens. A wide range of determinants for institutional reforms have been identified. However, the impact of trust on reforms has not been fully addressed. We provide theoretical arguments why trust should influence institutional changes and test the relationship empirically. We find a significant positive relation between trust and the success of reforms with regard to government size, the legal system, and deregulation of private businesses and the labor market. Other policy fields are ambiguous.