Joseph E. Stiglitz at Literary Hub:
The system that evolved in the last quarter of the twentieth century on both sides of the Atlantic came to be called neoliberalism. “Liberal” refers to being “free,” in this context, free of government intervention including regulations. The “neo” meant to suggest that there was something new in it; in reality, it was little different from the liberalism and laissez-faire doctrines of the nineteenth century that advised: “leave it to the market.”
Indeed, those ideas held such sway even into the twentieth century that, decades earlier, the dominant economists had said “do nothing” in response to the Great Depression. They believed the market would restore itself relatively quickly as long as the government didn’t fiddle around and mess things up.
What really was new was the trick of claiming neoliberalism stripped away rules when much of what it was doing was imposing new rules that favored banks and the wealthy.
More here.