Calling post-1980 policy shifts ‘deregulation’ misdescribes what happened.

Evidence

There and elsewhere in the aftermath of the crisis, one heard that the neoliberals were primarily responsible for the disaster because they imprudently deregulated markets, or else because they undermined existing regulation. I witnessed this proposition rolled out repeatedly at INET, for instance, and from people in Washington. Without a doubt, there had been important alterations in regulatory structures since 1980, and I will point to some of them in this book; but in no sense were they a simple removal of strictures that could or should be reinstated in any sense. To accept the language of “deregulation” is to become ensnared in a web of concepts that serves to paralyze political action. The neoliberals have openly expressed contempt for their opponents’ easy appeals to “reregulation”; and I think the time has come to take them far more seriously. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 47

Categorization

• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 47
• XREF: connects to: Productivity and worker compensation decoupled after 1980 deregulation. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media: How Wall Street…, 89

Broader Connections

• Productivity and worker compensation decoupled after 1980 deregulation. #exemplifies (0.75) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 89