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Towards a Swiss Army Knife State? The changing face of economic interventionism in advanced democracies, 1980-2015
[journal article]
Abstract This article systematically reviews trends in numerous economic policy indicators in eighteen OECD countries since the early 1980s, synthesizing findings about the fate of states' economic interventionism from several customarily separate literatures. Rather than observing any paradigmatic policy sh... view more
This article systematically reviews trends in numerous economic policy indicators in eighteen OECD countries since the early 1980s, synthesizing findings about the fate of states' economic interventionism from several customarily separate literatures. Rather than observing any paradigmatic policy shift, the review finds that policies with markedly different ideational foundations currently cohabitate. In line with non-interventionist prescriptions, policymakers have largely abandoned the intrusive heterodox 'power tools' of previous eras, while establishing new norms for monetary policy based on monetarist theory. However, this has not led to a full retreat of economic interventionism. Instead, policymakers are gradually developing a new, albeit more constrained, approach to promoting economic activity in line with selected distributional goals - here labelled the micro-interventionist state, or the ‘Swiss Army Knife State', as it were. The cross-partisan appeal of the ‘multi-tools’ associated with this approach - such as horizontal industrial policy, active social policy, and strategic tax expenditures and procurement - partly stems from their versatility, as policymakers can use them to very different distributional ends. To better understand the politics and distributional consequences of contemporary economic policies, scholars need to take their versatility more seriously, shifting focus theoretically and empirically from how much to how policymakers intervene in the economy.... view less
Keywords
ISSP; democracy; interventionism; monetary policy; social policy; investment; taxes; placing orders; economic policy
Classification
Economic Policy
Political System, Constitution, Government
Free Keywords
International Social Survey Programme: Role of Government I-IV - ISSP 1985-1990-1996-2006 (ZA4747); International Social Survey Programme: Role of Government V - ISSP 2016 (ZA6900); political economy; advanced democracies; comparative politics; fiscal policy; active social policy; social investment; tax expenditures; public procurement
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 477-501
Journal
Review of International Political Economy, 29 (2022) 2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1814843
ISSN
1466-4526
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed