The fuss over "Neoliberalism"
I'm finishing up my review of Scott Sumner's The Midas Paradox , and I see he uses the term "neoliberalism" to describe the intellectual movement represented by Friedman and Hayek, and embraced (at least rhetorically) by Thatcher and Reagan. Because it was a new intellectual current, hence "neo," and it was a variety of liberalism, hence "liberalism." This shouldn't be too controversial, but I've seen a fair number of libertarians going nuts over the term. Their main complaint seems to be, "Well, people use it as a term of disapprobation." Yes, they do. Opponents of intellectual movement X will often use 'X' as a negative word. Think of how, say, libertarians use "socialist" or "statist." Or how almost everyone uses fascist . Do we have to stop calling Mussolini a fascist because the term is often used disapprovingly? I note that Sumner describes himself as a neoliberal. And when he uses t...