Economic Growth, Poverty Mitigation, and Social Policy in our Neoliberal Era: A Polanyian Perspective

Xu, Tao Louie (2024): Economic Growth, Poverty Mitigation, and Social Policy in our Neoliberal Era: A Polanyian Perspective.

Abstract

This research examines the limits of neoliberal economic growth in poverty mitigation and spotlights the role of social policy in mediating social and economic objectives. Based on double movement, fictitious commodities, and social embeddedness of plural markets, with a Polanyian perspective on Bolivia’s Water Wars case, it disenchants the marketism legacy in our contemporary neoliberalism materialised in growth-poverty dynamics. The findings indicate that economic growth is accessible but insufficient to mitigate multi-layered poverty around societal demands and structures. The research argues for a holistic, contextualised anti-poverty framework with protective social policy and mediated socio-economic development embedded in social relations during the neoliberal era.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: neoliberalism; economic growth; poverty; fictitious commodities; double movement; social policy
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B52 - Institutional ; Evolutionary; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

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