The Left or the Right: Old Paradigms and New Governments
The Left or the Right: Old Paradigms and New Governments

Summary/Abstract: Classical paradigms characterize left-oriented governments as being more interventionist in the economy than right-oriented ones. Nevertheless, many factors have influenced economic policy changes in modern parties. The paper first gives a literary review of parties’ orientation towards intervention in the economy. Secondly, a comparative analysis of economic policies is done for selected developed economies, combining the governments’ left-right composition with trends in their economic freedom. Finally, the paper summarizes main similarities and differences between left and right governments as to economic interventionism. The aim of the paper is to show how different economic policies with regard to market restrictiveness should change traditional perceptions of ideological inclination to economic interventionism. Our findings underscore the need for building a new ‘economic ideology’ map, as complement to traditional party classifications.

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