The ‘strange non-death’ of economic models: how modelling contributed to neoliberal resilience in Denmark

Abstract

Scholars have attributed the resilience of the neoliberal policy paradigm to external pressure on governments by giant corporations and to features of the neoliberal idea itself. This article proposes a different explanation based on the political influence of the economic models that governments use for policy planning. I develop a theoretical perspective to capture how economic models, rather than being mere analytical tools, are policy tools with an overt objective function and a covert political function. To illustrate the value of the theory, I use a qualitative case-study approach to analyse how politicians in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis used economic models before and during the 2011–2015 Social Democratic Thorning-Schmidt government in Denmark. I show how the Danish Finance Ministry’s model worked as a weapon, a game board and a shield to discredit certain policies while promoting other policies, and in the process contributing to neoliberal resilience.