Columbia University economist Dani Rodrik claims that “neo-liberalism is dead”. The claim points out the vanished intellectual hegemony of neo-liberal economics - embodied in the Washington Consensus - due to the failures experienced by countries that strictly adhered to its policy prescriptions, on the one hand, and the success of countries that "marched to the beat of their own drums", on the other. Indeed, there are many threads of contemporary economic thought that provide alternatives to neo-liberal economics. These heterodox policies and approaches are most welcome, and they can be harmonized with conventional wisdom. As Rodrik puts it, "let a thousand growth models bloom." At the same time, old-fashioned neo-classical thinking – to be sure, neo-liberalism draws heavily from neo-classical economics - should not be totally rejected. Some aspects of it can be used to defeat the most pernicious features of neo-liberalism. It is precisely their excellent grasp of neo-classical economics that enables the likes of Rodrik, Joseph Stiglitz, etc. to credibly and convincingly demolish neo-liberalism.
