Where are the Neoliberals?

Abstract

Abstract Are “neoliberal” policies/institutions related to concomitant beliefs and values worldwide? While disputing the term “neoliberal,” theories of economic freedom expect such policies/institutions to promote what the author here calls “perceived freedom” and should theoretically be related to people’s “free market” values. Theories of neoliberalism equivocate on this question, but class-based strands of them anticipate class divisions in these beliefs and values. Using “economic freedom” indices to proxy the policy/institutional dimension of economic freedom and neoliberalism alike, this study tests these and other hypotheses through multilevel modeling analyses of the sixth wave of World Values Survey data from 55 diverse countries/territories. Economic freedom indices are not significantly related to average perceived freedom in the main. Economic freedom indices are positively related to some free market values, but less robustly so after controls. People who identify as upper/upper-middle class perceive greater freedom and support free market values more than their counterparts. Implications are discussed.