Economic Liberalization

Economic liberalization is a complex concept, often incompletely understood and sometimes used pejoratively to describe a lamentable spread of global capitalism and demolition of the proactive welfare state. It has its roots in the theory of classical liberalism associated with the philosophies of Adam Smith, John Locke, Jean-Baptiste Say, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo, who draw on the understanding of individual liberty, natural law, and utilitarianism as driving forces of economic and social progress. In practical (economic) terms, it represents the belief that states have to abstain from intervening in the economy, giving way to greater participation of private entities.

In the context of advanced capitalist economies, economic liberalization tends to be linked to the Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher years in the United States and ...