Neoliberalism holds that markets can solve the very problems markets create

Evidence

The market (suitably reengineered and promoted) can always provide solutions to problems seemingly caused by the market in the first place. This is the ultimate destination of the constructivist orientation within neoliberalism. Any problem, economic or otherwise, has a market solution, given sufficient ingenuity: pollution is abated by the trading of emissions permits; inadequate public education is rectified by vouchers; auctions can adequately structure communication channels (Nik-Khah 2008); poverty-stricken sick people lacking access to healthcare can be incentivized to serve as guinea pigs for clinical drug trials; financial crisis can be rectified by the government auctioning off “toxic assets”; McCarthyism was thwarted by competition between employers (Friedman 1962, 20); terrorism by disgruntled disenfranchised foreigners can be offset by a “futures market in terrorist acts.” — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2134

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharp definition of the ‘constructivist orientation’ within neoliberalism — the claim that every problem has a market solution.
• SEED: The ‘futures market in terrorist acts’ idea (actually from a ‘policy analysis market’ proposal) is a striking example of market-solutions-to-everything logic worth an article on DARPA’s canceled terrorism futures market.
• XREF: Connects to critiques of neoliberal rationality in works like Wendy Brown’s ‘Undoing the Demos’ and Foucault’s lectures on biopolitics analyzing economization of everything. — connects to: Development problems are reframed as mere market-access problems. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 419; Neoliberal doctrine holds every problem, even market-caused ones, has a market solution — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 177; Geoengineering is the logical extension of neoliberal market-fix doctrine — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 931 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Market competition was framed by neoliberals as guarantor of rights and peace #exemplifies (0.75)