The Marketizers: Public Choice and the Origins of the Neoliberal Order

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The title of the book leaves little doubt about its purpose, and what was left is eliminated by what is written on the dust jacket: “The book traces the origins of the neoliberal order to public choice theory and argues that the reinvention of government on the model of the market would have been unimaginable without the emergence of this body of thought.” Another book on neo-liberalism, and another book that blames public choice. An air of déjà vu, isn’t it? Yet, reading.

The Marketizers proves to be stimulating. Not because of new archives that would reveal that another of the revered thinkers of the past few decades is just as guilty as the others for having given birth to this evil ideology. Not because it uncovers a conspiracy or debunks a myth. But because its thesis is original, much stronger than what the title suggests. But also, not be as strong as it seems. Let us see why.