ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief review of the origin and development of neoliberal globalization and examines economic performance in the neoliberal era, first in the world economy, then, in more detail, in the US economy. In North America and Europe, there was widespread acceptance of the concept of a new "social contract" between state, capital, labor, and citizens as the foundation for a new political economy. The Golden Age (GA) was an era of exceptionally fast and widely shared growth, built on the foundation of a qualitative increase in the economic power of society over markets, exercised primarily, though not exclusively, through the state. Socially embedded markets and government guidance of the economic development were not the only reason for the economic achievements of the era, but they were, without doubt, a necessary condition for the success of the GA.
