I guess There is no way to get you to use a different wore than "Neo-Liberal." It just seemed like the perfect word for a mid-course correction to US "Liberalism" which did not pay enough attention to long term growth and the ways that budget deficits, and failure to use Pigou taxes (or at least regulations using cost-benefit analysis with the social cost of externalities embedded in the parameters) to correct externalities hampered it. True, that additional redistribution was not part of the idea, but using more explicit distribution to buy political support for more growth-promoting policies.
How sad that the word came to mean tax cuts for the rich and deficits. How tragic that while this "Neoliberalism grew up so did the thicket of land use and "safety" regulations.
The political economy question is how did what came to be called "neoliberalism" go so badly off track from what it could have been? And how do we get it back on track?
When did neoliberalism have that benign meaning? I first encountered the word in the mid-1980s. It already had its current meaning as an economic philosophy arguing that the economy existed for the wealthy and was to work only for their benefit and that strangely had the word "liberal" in it. to soften or at least misattribute the intended damage. Google's Ngram Viewer shows the word arising in the 1980s and being used with increasing frequency over the next decades. Was there some time in the 1970s, perhaps, when it flew under the radar and meant merely a reassessment of liberal economic views?
yes: that reassessment meaning was coined in the 1970s in the US, and it then collided in the 1980s with the European meaning which had been coined in, I think, the 1950s...
I've been a fan of Martin since the World Bank. I'm going to listen as soon as I get a new cell phone. Ezra is the one policy podcast that I'll listen to even though I can't comment on it.
Here is something post covid that you should know about regarding the hospitality industry that is very significant.
I read this on a recent news report of a strike of maids and housekeeping staff on certain hotel chains. The article stated that daily room maid service was discontinued at many hotels during covid, and many hotels abandoned it afterwards also. That was the first I heard about it.
In August 2023 my daughter and I stayed at a hotel, and I could not figure out what was going on. The towel directions in the bathroom said to put towels on the floor that you wanted to have replaced. I did that, returned to the room in afternoon and the towels were on the floor still. I had put the card out to request maid service, but no maid service, the card was gone. I hung the towels on the towel racks and on the shower rod, and they dried out very well. It is a special kind of towel fabric that is common to many hotels.
I just felt something was going on, so I did not say anything. I made the beds, and the room looked fine. I did not really want daily maid service. We never asked for towels from the maid on our floor either. At a more recent stay at a hotel, we did ask for extra towels at the front desk, and that was fine. When we left, I threw all the used towels in the bathtub, pull the bed covers back in case something was left there.
In most hotels in the past, they changed your sheets every day. Think of the tremendous volume of bedding and towels to be washed. They must save a lot of money by not doing that any more. I know this probably makes people angry if they spend a lot of money for a room, but I don't mind doing it. I did maid work at my parent's resort, so I am sympathetic to the hotels. We washed towels, but sent the sheets to a cleaner's. We only changed sheets once a week. The washing machine and dryer were going nonstop from 8 am to late night sometimes.
Another thing if you have one of those small refrigerators with no auto defrost, sometimes the frost builds up a lot. That happened to me about 4 years ago. Someone tried to defrost it by opening the fridge door, but not unplugging it or turning the dial to defrost, it was running full blast. Turned dial to defrost, got that fridge defrosted in about half an hour, put a container with warm water in the fridge, pull off the ice as soon as it begins to detach and throw the ice in the sink and there won't be a lot of water that might spill out. The fridge uses a lot more energy when the freezer compartment is iced up a lot.
Another stay last summer we had a family party at a resort, and tried to clean up as much as possible, used the plates there and no paper plates, separated the recyclables out, washed the dishes in the dishwasher. We asked for extra garbage bags, and I think they appreciated the effort to clean up as much as possible.
I feel like there is something going on. I am thinking that they may be keeping secret records on their customers, like putting your credit card on a good list if you try to clean up and are not using a lot of towels and sheets.
I know Nordstrom's department stores keep records of bad customers, and reject their cards and checkbooks.
So, this is a new thing with hotels. We are doing what we can to keep hotel costs down. We usually leave a $20 tip.
I guess There is no way to get you to use a different wore than "Neo-Liberal." It just seemed like the perfect word for a mid-course correction to US "Liberalism" which did not pay enough attention to long term growth and the ways that budget deficits, and failure to use Pigou taxes (or at least regulations using cost-benefit analysis with the social cost of externalities embedded in the parameters) to correct externalities hampered it. True, that additional redistribution was not part of the idea, but using more explicit distribution to buy political support for more growth-promoting policies.
How sad that the word came to mean tax cuts for the rich and deficits. How tragic that while this "Neoliberalism grew up so did the thicket of land use and "safety" regulations.
The political economy question is how did what came to be called "neoliberalism" go so badly off track from what it could have been? And how do we get it back on track?
This is not a question to which I have ever been able to think up a good answer...
Well, that makes ME feel better about it. :)
When did neoliberalism have that benign meaning? I first encountered the word in the mid-1980s. It already had its current meaning as an economic philosophy arguing that the economy existed for the wealthy and was to work only for their benefit and that strangely had the word "liberal" in it. to soften or at least misattribute the intended damage. Google's Ngram Viewer shows the word arising in the 1980s and being used with increasing frequency over the next decades. Was there some time in the 1970s, perhaps, when it flew under the radar and meant merely a reassessment of liberal economic views?
yes: that reassessment meaning was coined in the 1970s in the US, and it then collided in the 1980s with the European meaning which had been coined in, I think, the 1950s...
I've been a fan of Martin since the World Bank. I'm going to listen as soon as I get a new cell phone. Ezra is the one policy podcast that I'll listen to even though I can't comment on it.
Here is something post covid that you should know about regarding the hospitality industry that is very significant.
I read this on a recent news report of a strike of maids and housekeeping staff on certain hotel chains. The article stated that daily room maid service was discontinued at many hotels during covid, and many hotels abandoned it afterwards also. That was the first I heard about it.
In August 2023 my daughter and I stayed at a hotel, and I could not figure out what was going on. The towel directions in the bathroom said to put towels on the floor that you wanted to have replaced. I did that, returned to the room in afternoon and the towels were on the floor still. I had put the card out to request maid service, but no maid service, the card was gone. I hung the towels on the towel racks and on the shower rod, and they dried out very well. It is a special kind of towel fabric that is common to many hotels.
I just felt something was going on, so I did not say anything. I made the beds, and the room looked fine. I did not really want daily maid service. We never asked for towels from the maid on our floor either. At a more recent stay at a hotel, we did ask for extra towels at the front desk, and that was fine. When we left, I threw all the used towels in the bathtub, pull the bed covers back in case something was left there.
In most hotels in the past, they changed your sheets every day. Think of the tremendous volume of bedding and towels to be washed. They must save a lot of money by not doing that any more. I know this probably makes people angry if they spend a lot of money for a room, but I don't mind doing it. I did maid work at my parent's resort, so I am sympathetic to the hotels. We washed towels, but sent the sheets to a cleaner's. We only changed sheets once a week. The washing machine and dryer were going nonstop from 8 am to late night sometimes.
Another thing if you have one of those small refrigerators with no auto defrost, sometimes the frost builds up a lot. That happened to me about 4 years ago. Someone tried to defrost it by opening the fridge door, but not unplugging it or turning the dial to defrost, it was running full blast. Turned dial to defrost, got that fridge defrosted in about half an hour, put a container with warm water in the fridge, pull off the ice as soon as it begins to detach and throw the ice in the sink and there won't be a lot of water that might spill out. The fridge uses a lot more energy when the freezer compartment is iced up a lot.
Another stay last summer we had a family party at a resort, and tried to clean up as much as possible, used the plates there and no paper plates, separated the recyclables out, washed the dishes in the dishwasher. We asked for extra garbage bags, and I think they appreciated the effort to clean up as much as possible.
I feel like there is something going on. I am thinking that they may be keeping secret records on their customers, like putting your credit card on a good list if you try to clean up and are not using a lot of towels and sheets.
I know Nordstrom's department stores keep records of bad customers, and reject their cards and checkbooks.
So, this is a new thing with hotels. We are doing what we can to keep hotel costs down. We usually leave a $20 tip.
Can we anticipate more posts of class material? The syllabus? I own your book but only have Gerstle's on library loan.
Someday. When things get into better shape...