Reclaiming Public Ownership. Making Space for Economic Democracy

摘要

One can fully understand the negative part of this book, namely, its critique of neo-liberalism. The author offers a painstaking analysis of the neo-liberal ideology, its promises and outcomes. Especially, the British developments during the recent three decades are covered in depth, but this book also has numerous comparative enquiries, covering nations as the USA, Latin America, Scandinavia and Russia. Compared with the promises made by the neo-liberal scholars - more economic efficiency, higher output, lower prices - one has to face the question: what went wrong with the ideas of privatisation, rational expectations and comprehensive market efficiency? Cumbers focuses in particular upon the dismal consequences of the privatisation of infrastructure and the public services. He does a very good job. The demystification of the myths of Chicago School Economics is done with theoretical insights and lots of empirical evidence.