Neoliberalism and state capitalism

With the seemingly endemic crisis of Wall Street and the US financial markets, and its reverberations in Britain, Australia and elsewhere, there has been talk on Larvatus Prodeo and elsewhere about we are at the end of the neoliberal era. I have thought that the term 'neoliberalism' is over-used, and that the Bush Administration in particular has grown the size of the state rather than reduced it. It was also the case that, for much of the 2000s, the Howard government was about 'tax and spend' rather than neoliberalism, although the money was always directed towards electoral special interests.

At the same time as the convusions of the US economy, there has been the steady growth of economies such as China, Russia and those of the Middle East, where the role of the state is far more directive and dirigiste. One manifestation of this change is the rise of sovereign wealth funds, and The Economist speculates as to whether this means the rise of state capitalism.

For more, see here.