The Way Through Well-Being: Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism, an economic and social model that emerged to provide economic growth, could be regarded as one of the most considerable systems of the 21st century. From the regarded model's perspective, the competition inside the market and downsize in the state's power come into the forefront as a way of a prosperous economy. All around the world, the governments have tended to adopt neoliberal strategies since the 1980s, which is clearly shown in the "index of competition," which increases from 20% to 60%.

By significantly reducing the rate of poverty through globalization and immigration, neoliberalism positively affects the well-being of nations in respect of economic conditions. Statistics clearly show that the global poverty rates decreased, from 45% to about 9% in the last 40 years. Globalization and migration may be considered one of the prominent phenomena of neoliberal philosophy providing the underlying reasons for that statistical result.

In addition to immigration and globalization, another aspect of neoliberalism that makes the economic condition better by decreasing poverty is its strategy of promoting direct investments. China, which adopted the policy of promoting foreign investments in its latest years, increased its GDP from 300 USD to 10000 USD recently. The China case shows that millions of people got rid of poverty thanks to neoliberal strategies.

Under the favor of neoliberal policies, the prices and production costs decrease due to its increasing competition in sale operations and its lowering standards for production process by de-regulation. Neoliberal understanding creates a competition of selling more for dealers, so the prices for consumers go down. With these conditions providing such an increasing race globally, the prices of products decreased by half.

Contrary to the general regarded perspective, neoliberalism prevents inequalities by ensuring the proper distribution of resources with open trade and giving every individual an equal chance with the downsized state. A study from the US transparently reveals the impact of open trade on equality, showing that economically low-class experience about 63% more budget loss in the event of closing trade.

Apart from these supportive stances, the concept of neoliberalism has been subject to debate that it harms the well-being of the societies by creating an authoritarian system. Riad Azar points out the need of neoliberalism for a powerful and authorizer judicial system to ensure the transactions properly. Although the claim seems logical, the assumed contradiction is not valid — neoliberalism requires a forceful judicial system to guarantee the existence of individuals' freedom.

After all, neoliberal policies generally contribute to society's well-being in respect of social and economic conditions, thanks to its decreasing poverty rates, lowering prices of products, and preventing inequalities. Instead of just focusing on the model, focusing on how it is implemented would provide the creation of the intended sociological and economic order.