Incentive structures in everything from education to investment decisions have been reoriented toward improving the options of the profit-maximizing individual. The investor has become much more important than the worker. And the consumer has gained higher status than the citizen. According to the overview released by the Institute, global economic liberalization has had the aura of an irresistible force of nature - eventually delivering progress to all. Yet, three decades into this liberal experiment, global growth rates continue to be relatively weak and erratic.
Countries lurch from one financial crisis to another.
And the Summit goal of eradicating poverty is as distant in 2000 as it was in 1995. The Social Summit took place in Copenhagen in 1995 at a time when free-market enthusiasts were promising to deliver progress for all, the overview notes. But there was widespread discontent with the damage caused by neoliberal policies. Poverty and unemployment were growing rapidly in indebted Third World countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union exposed large numbers of people to the rigours of the market without making adequate provision for social protection.