Following the 2016 election, a large share of the American left-of-center concluded that Trump's victory could be blamed, at least in part, on half a century of 'neoliberal' economic policy that was too deferential to free markets. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, his administration adopted a new, more populist approach, sometimes called 'post-neoliberalism' or simply 'Bidenomics,' centered on a much more active role for government in the economy. Its supporters believed that the new approach would not only help achieve key national goals but also help Democrats win back the working class. Then, in 2024, working-class voters abandoned Democrats even more thoroughly than they had eight years prior. For many economists, pundits, and party insiders, the obvious upshot was that Biden's economic populism had failed. Headlines such as 'The Architects of Bidenomics Are in Denial' (The Wall Street Journal), 'How Bidenomics Boosted Growth but Failed Americans' (The Financial Times), and...
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