Monetarist / New Classical Counter-Revolution (Late 20th Century)

This topic describes the late twentieth-century revival of monetarist and new classical ideas that challenged Keynesian interventionism. Monetarists emphasise the primacy of monetary policy and the money supply in determining short-run output and long-run price levels, while the new classical counter-revolution promoted supply-side policies such as privatization, deregulation and laissez-faire markets. These schools influenced policy in the USA, UK and other countries during the 1970s–1980s and shaped responses to later crises. Understanding these ideas matters because they explain alternative policy choices about how governments and central banks manage inflation, growth and market structure.