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Economic rationalism is an Australian term in discussion of microeconomic policy, applicable to the economic policy of many governments around the world, in particular during the 1980s and 1990s. Economic rationalists tend to favour deregulation, a free market economy, privatisation of state-owned industries, lower direct taxation and higher indirect taxation, and a reduction of the size of the welfare state. Near-equivalents include Thatcherism (UK), Rogernomics (NZ), and the Washington Consensus. To a large extent the term merely means economic liberalism, also called neoliberalism. However, the term was also used to describe advocates of market-oriented reform within the Australian Labor Party, whose position was closer to what has become known as the 'Third Way'. As it is a phrase used by Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism the highest likelihood is the term was drawn from there and its modern denotations can all be accommodated within Weber's usage. Its recent usage arose independently in Australia, and was derived from the phrase "economically rational", used as a favorable description of market-oriented economic policies. Its first appearances in print were in the early 1970s, under the Whitlam government, and it was almost invariably used in a favorable sense until the late 1980s. The now dominant negative use came into widespread use during the 1990 recession, and was popularised by a best-selling book ''(Economic Rationalism in Canberra )'' by (Michael Pusey ). == Criticism of economic rationalism == The term "economic rationalism" is commonly used in criticism of free-market economic policies as amoral or asocial. In this context economic rationalism may be summarised as "the view that commercial activity ... represents a sphere of activity in which moral considerations, beyond the rule of business probity dictated by enlightened self-interest, have no role to play." (Quiggin 1997) The well-known statement of Margaret Thatcher that "There is no such thing as society. There are individuals, and there are families" is often quoted in this context, though the interpretation of this statement is disputed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Economic rationalism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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