Are Markets Like Mushrooms? and Other Neoliberal Quandries

The neoliberal Washington Consensus dominated global policy making over the 1980s. Fundamental to this consensus were three theoretical and ideological tenets: that privatization and markets are a natural order and that this order is best achieved if the state economic role is limited. I argue that private property and markets simply cannot be established as neoliberals propose, nor can the state be so easily curtailed. To support this argument, I will draw briefly on examples from the 'transition economies.' I argue that a more historical understanding of the nature of markets, property, and diverse forms of social organization will allow policy makers to more accurately use these institutions to achieve desired ends. This does not resolve the question of how to define those ends.