Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There

An economic philosophy that emerged after World War II, neoliberalism stood in contrast to the then-dominant school of Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes and others looked to governments to oversee fiscal and monetary policy in order to safeguard people against the instability of capitalism and, most importantly, to ensure full employment. Looking to the example of 18th-century “classical liberals” like Adam Smith and David Ricardo, the “neoliberals” deplored governments as a wasteful interference in the natural workings of the free market and called for governments to act mainly with the aim of getting out of the way. Neoliberalism resonated with political conservatives because of its hostility to government intervention, and it appealed to liberals because it embraced international trade without tariffs or other barriers.

In the social sciences, particularly economics, the rational actor model is a theoretical device for predicting the behavior of a person, corporation, or anything else with a presumptively unitary center of decision-making. The assumption is that this “unit” will seek to maximize its utility—in other words, figure out what will benefit it the most and the optimal means of pursuing that end. While useful in many respects, it tends to elide the complexities of human psychology that often prize other goods over self-interest, as well as the ways in which social and political contexts provide different understandings of what self-interest means.

This term refers to the proposal to provide an entire population with enough money to sustain a dignified existence without regard for wealth or employment status. Many governments have experimented with smaller-scale or temporary disbursements, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept remains controversial, partly because of concerns that it would disincentivize work or that introducing too much money into the system would lead to inflation.