The phrase ‘Neoliberalism’ is a product of economists such as Freidrich Hayek, Walter

Lippmann, and Ludwig von Mises. This term was popularized in the 1960s and was introduced
as an ideal solution to all the major economic problems that the world faced.  

Neoliberalism refers to an economic and political model that is centered around the idea of free-
market capitalism and aims to gie the private sector control of the economic resources and
factors, instead of giving it to the state/government. Sometimes, it is incorrectly associated with
the concept of laissez-faire economics, but in actuality, it just includes privatization,
globalization, deregulation and free trade. Neoliberalism is accepted to be the opposite the
Keynesian capitalism (which was prevalent in the period of 1945 up to the 1980s).

The emphasis of the economic policies of the neoliberalism model is (1) Deregulation and (2)
Privatization. Deregulation involves reducing the authority of the government in industries and
privation essentially is assigning the private sector with property, ownership, and businesses
from the government to the private sector. Some examples of industries that were deregulated
in the United States are the telecom industry, airline industry, and trucking industry. Examples of
privatization could be the privatized prison. 

The essential tenets of the neoliberalism model are:

1. Instead of the publicly funded programs, the market-based programs are more effective,
stable and sustainable.
2. Ultimately, the market is the authority that decides the worth of the individual and
thereby allocates resources accordingly. The government has no role to play in this, and
therefore they should not question or hinder the process.
3. Since it is believed that the market is the ultimate distributor of the wealth and resources
of the society, and therefore the people who are able to gather wealth in the game of the
market deserve their wealth, and the poor must accept their fate, since there is no other
sustainable alternative to this ideology. 
4. This implies that the wealthy elites and those at the top of the society believe that they
have achieved their wealth on merit, and believe that anyone else could also achieve the
same if they just build up the motivation for it. 
5. These elites then have the responsibility to oversee the market operations in the
society. 
6. The market does not need intervention and therefore, is self-correcting 
7. Privatization is the only-final solution. Public private partnerships are only acceptable if
the government is shifting from public to private and in the process, the public-private
partnership is formed. 
8. Any tangible rewards the individual receives from the state, such as education and
healthcare, should not be a right, but in fact, this should be earned as well.
9. Promoting globalization
10. Free market in the globalization will apply the principles of the neoliberalism model of a
state to the global market and the most deserving players will get what they deserve.

On the other hand, let us discuss the concept of neoconfucianism.  

Neo confucianism revolves around reviving the confucian philosophy and the associated
political culture. THis started in the 9th century and peaked (in terns of social creativity and
intellect) in the Song Dynasty in the 9th century. 

Han Yu and Li Ao, both Confucianist academics, are credited with founding the Song Dynasty's
neo-Confucianists. The Tang Dynasty gave birth to Neo-Confucianism. Zhou Dunyi, a
philosopher from the Song Dynasty, is credited with being the first authentic discoverer of neo-
Confucianism.

Neo-Confucianism is simply an ethical and social ideology based on metaphysical notions,

some of which are drawn from Taoism. Humanist and rationalist in nature, the theory says that
the universe can be comprehended via human reason and that it is for mankind to build a fruitful
relationship between the universe and the individual. 

Unlike Buddhists, neo-Confucians thought that reality existed and could be comprehended by
humans, even if different schools of neo-Confucianism had somewhat varying interpretations of
the concept of reality. 

In the political landscape, this manifested itself as a reform movement that aimed to address the
acute socioeconomic issues of the day through a creative reconstruction of ancient Confucian
ideal institutions. 

The Neoconfucionist model encompasses a series of universal moral ideas that were first
described in Confucius' Analects and then represented by numerous disciples over many years.
These attitudes were instilled into Chinese society in particular, and expanded from China to
adjacent countries as an element of the spread of Chinese influence.  The most notable
countries with strong Confucianist traditions are Korea and Japan.

In contemporary East Asia, the effects of neo-Confucianism can be noticed as promoting

relatively authoritarian government structures that could intervene to varying extents in the
economic system, family-based attitudes that can extend to outside the family as well, on to
corporations and the nation entirely, and high saving rates, with focus on educaion and strong
family values. Many analysts believe that the latter two, especially, have laid the foundations for 
the "East Asian Miracle" of strong economic growth.  (Jr. 7)

The Neo-Confucian (Beijing Consensus) approach is based on the following principles:

1. Community develops not because it exists in its own right, separate from the family and
the state, but in fact, Its primary asset is the interaction between family and state. The
idea of the family as a representation of the state, as well as the the state as an
extended  representation of the family, both imply that the stability of the family is
important
2. Government leadership is not only essential, but also desired in a market economy. In
theory, the state is seen as a positive force for stablising the society. Regardless of the
market being self-correcting, a  regulatory power is still required. State Capitalism is the
underlying concept.
3. Education to be given a high priority. The primary focus of scooling to build on the
character development. Schooling is focused on personal development. Alongside
developing the technical/hard skills, a strong emphasis is also placed on ethical values.
4. Self-cultivation is a fundamental requirement for developing in a society that encourages
integrity in the political leaders.
5. While regulations are required for social welfare and security, true harmony within socety
can only be developed via people treating each other well. That is to say, I t is
impossible to coerce civilised behaviour. It is this feeling of guilt and shame that guides
civilised behavior.
6. Core values have a trickle down effect through the families.
It can be said that neo-confcianism emphasises on moral behaviour and self reflection in every
aspect such as businesses, state, families etc . It actually promotes a coherent vision of human
development that culminates in the person becoming spiritually and ethically awakened. 

Now, let us critically observe the different models of trade presented by the neoliberalism and
neoconfucianism concepts. This can be done by analysing the washington consensus and the
beijing consensus.

In 1989, governments all over the world were grappled with the debt crisis and poor
development that had afflicted developing economies throughout the 1980s, especially in Latin
America and Sub-Saharan Africa. John Williamson, a senior economics scholar, organised the
event. 

He had been outlining a set of strategies that had picked up steam amongst Latin American
administrators in reaction to the mid-1980s macroeconomic turmoil and credit crisis. Experts at
Washington's institutions, particularly the IMF and the World Bank, backed these strategies to
aid recovery from the crisis.

As the debt crisis started in the developing world countries in the early 1980s, the leading
Western countries, particularly the U.S. agreed that the the IMF and World Bank should be a
key player in debt management and global development strategy in general. 

Williamson's original work was divided into ten sections, which are described below (Spence 7): 
1. Budget deficits must be minimal to avoid using the inflation tax to finance them.
2. Public spending should be redirected from politically sensitive areas that receive more
resources than their economic returns justify... to neglected fields with high economic
returns and the potential to improve income distribution, such as primary education and
health care, as well as infrastructure.
3. Tax reform in order to enlarge the tax base while lowering marginal tax rates.
4. Financial liberalisation, with the ultimate goal of interest rates determined by the market.
5. A single exchange rate that is competitive enough to spur rapid growth in unconventional
exports.
6. Quantitative trade barriers will be quickly replaced by tariffs, which will be gradually
reduced until a uniform low rate of 10 to 20% is reached.
7. Removal of barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI) (foreign direct investment).
8. State-owned firms are being privatised.
9. Elimination of regulations that obstruct the admission of new businesses or limit
competition.
10. Providing solid property rights, particularly to the informal sector, is number ten.

The Chinese alternative approach is labelled as the Beijing Consensus in contrast to the
Washington Consensus. The Beijing Consensus, rather than imposing inflexible solutions for
foriegn countries problems, is realistic. It is fundamentally innovative, but also promoting
principles such as equitable development.

Primarily, the Beijing Consenus revolves around three areas: 

 1. Self-determination
2. Institutional innovation
3. Equitable and sustainable development

To face the problems posed by the evolving economic landscape, the state must aggressively
innovate. China has placed a healthy emphasis on making successful policies and programs
that address issues that are vital to its citizens. In order to attain this objective, China must first
obtain a thorough sense of what its people desire.

The Chinese state's heavy reliance on polling and surveys demonstrates a commitment to
ongoing experimentation when it comes to innovative legislation. Some of the outcomes that
have sparked debate among foreign countries was the One Child policy, which was introduced
to control growing population, and these programs have proven to be extremely effective within
in China.

The aspect of self determination highlights the necessity for developing nations to pursue
freedom coming from external pressure, such as that exerted by the US.  It's not that hard to
understand why the Chinese model has gathered attention of other emerging countries.

The idea of self-determination is especially enticing in Africa, since western nations have a long
and storied history of intrusion and plunder and exploitation. 

The success of China in implementing these neoconfucianist policies did not only stay within the
borders of China itself, but it also engulfed the surrounding countries of Japan, Vietnam and
South Korea. This theory, which has its roots in social justice, ethics and morals and are against
the concepts of greed and infinite profit maximisation (what neoliberalism propagates) has been
implemented in these East Asian nations and have produced noteworthy results. It is starting to
slowly gather international popularity as well, beyond the Asian countries, since it presents a
way out for the countries that are entangled in the neoliberalism model. 

The average guy in the neoliberalist societies, lives under the illusion of freedom and does not
feel as secure. He does not possess that peace of mind since to get anything in that society,
they have to compete in the market, despite being sometimes unable to do so. The same
applies for the family structure that is observed in the neoliberalist societies which is damaged
severely by the greed of more profit. This has made those societies very selfish and
individualistic. As a result, we can observe increased loneliness, and other problems such as
depression, divorces, etc. In neoconfucianism, on the other hand, the family is considered as
the basic fabric of society. It is encouraged in the Chinese society to adopt a collectivist
approach is living, since there is greater priority placed on the interests of the family over the
interests of self. 

As discussed, the concept of accountability lies at the core of the neoconfucianist ideology. As a
consequence, a better, more economically/socially stable society comes into being. This just
society ensures that there are equal rights for everyone, unlike in the neoliberalit societies. As a
result we see a society that has a lower gap between the rich and the poor and therefore it
creates equitable distribution of income.  the concept of Social justice from outside unity and
Nationalism in the civilians of the country.  and on the opposite of this we see a neolierbal
society  what are the gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase.  for instance a
good example of this can be the fact that Jeff bezos,  founder of Amazon,  continue to grow
richer in the times of the coronavirus  to cutting their costs and laying off their workforce. 
Before we delve into the aspect equitable economic prosperity in the two theories of
neoliberalism and neoconfucianism, It is important that we understand the fundamentals of what
is involved in the concept of economic prosperity. The economic prosperity can be measured by
looking at the equitable growth in the country. Equitable growth can be defined as when there is
economic growth that is improving the standard of living of the people in the country and also
helping to improve their purchasing power. Now,  it is important to evaluate the difference
between economic growth and economic prosperity, because they might not necessarily be the
same thing.  economic growth can be defined as when the aggregate value of all the goods and
services increase in a specific time period,  where as economic prosperity Ee has its roots in
equitable and their distribution of that economic growth that has occurred. 

In the neoliberal countries  there is increased economic inequality therefore which leads to
worse economic prosperity. According to the neoliberal  the ideology,  the free market is the
best system of Management for society in helping them create wealth. However,  they never
mention the level of pollution, wastages,  climate change,  adverse impact on the environment
and the huge gap between the rich and the poor. For example let us consider the  biggest
economy in the world of the United States. Their aggregate aggregate GDP is around $20
trillion, and despite that, about 35 million people live below poverty. In toher words, the
‘strongest economic power’ has failed to provide for such an enormous segment of their
population. In the capitalist neoliberal society,  businesses and corporate needs are encouraged
to invest in the country and they are offered low tax rates, cheap labour,   protection from
competition, Subsidies and other measures just so they can invest in the country to achieve
economic growth.  what this does is that it damages the fabric of the society since the labour
force are underpaid,  environment is damaged,  and a lot of stakeholders field and negative
impact of that investment and only a few  people of  the society reap the benefits of their
investment.

Another disadvantage of neooliberal  model is that on a global scale this new liberal ideology
leaves other countries worse off. A few countries are able to benefit at the cost of other
countries. Here, we can consider the example of Africa that despite having an abundance of
natural resources,  they are unable to get out of an economic slump,  where are the western
countries keep getting Richa and Richa. These new liberal Elite countries have even extended
their model to supposedly help these developing countries in their economic growth by the
name of IMF. Andhra goal of IMF is to and showed that there is financial stability among all its
member countries and there is an increase in international trade and lowest poverty rate
globally,  what happens in reality is the complete opposite.  developing countries often get
trapped by that to the IMF  through its financial assistance programs and then IMF gets to
dictate what economic measures the country needs to take in order to repay that amount of
borrowed money.   a relatable case would be that of Pakistan itself where the IMF has a very
strong influence on inflation and other macroeconomic policies since Pakistan needs to to
prioritise repaying the loan of the IMF in fear of sanctions.  the result is a very high inflation
particularly food inflation which has affected the average Pakistani negatively. To establish
more  perspective,  it can be noted that no country that has borrowed money from the IMF has
been able to  you completely free itself from its shackles.

After all this discussion let us  focus on how this model of neoconfucianism  offer a viable
alternative to neoliberal ideology.  it can be comfortably said that it is capable of successfully
replacing and supplanting the neoliberalism approach.
Strong government intervention main help in a better allocation of the overall resources of the
country in order to help at overcome any challenges or obstacles in its growth.   often Times, 
when the Beijing consensus and the Washington consensus  are compared,  the Beijing
consensus is mistakenly considered as more of an authoritative policy e where as the
Washington consensus is thought of a free market-oriented ideology.  this however is not
entirely true.

China has adopted dynamic approaches in helping it solve the problems related to high inflation
economic growth and unemployment. One such example is that of the township and village
enterprise, which has to be given credit for their contribution in the growth of China. The sate
had minimal intervention in it, but they were instead managed effectively by private entities. The
result was that significant incentives were provided for all the major stakeholders (businesses
and other local authorities), eventually contributing in enhanced economic efficiency. They
played their role in supporting businesses to overcome the challenge of poilitcal influence and
this helped them earn more profits, thus increased the tax income for the government and
achieved overall economic prosperity.

If China wants to continue to maintain the economic prosperity and economic stability that it has
achieved in such a short span of time, it you must find ways to keep its government officials
motivated and driven to achieve the goals of the company.   a report by the World Bank titled
“The East Asian Miracle”   talks about the  point that the state needs to play If China is to
maintain its economic prosperity. It focused on have the Chinese government can remove the
roadblocks to more sustainable economic prosperity and progress. (The East Asian Miracle)

There are two primary ways in which the government officials in China are motivated.  they are
given promotions and are rewarded on the basis of merit only which is measured by their
contribution to the progress of the company.  e on the flip side,  they are also evaluated on on
their performance and are held accountable and if they fail to follow the norms,  they are likely to
face the negative consequences. Although there is a pressure on employees that if they don't
perform they can face disciplinary action but the positive incentive to bring in in innovation and
superior performance has been successful so far. 

Secondly, economic growth rewards state workers right away. China achieves all that through a
range of methods: the people who reside in more affluent neighborhoods earn substantially
more money than the people who reside in less prosperous areas; numerous government state
divisions can provide varying levels of welfare and income, with those divisions more directly
involved in economic activity receiving a rather special consideration. Some provincial/local
governments in China also reward officials with bonus payments for achieving good tax
revenue.

Last but not least, China must make sure that interests of the state entities are protected. A
Conflict of interest can arise from certain groups in the economy, which can thwart institutional
and policy reforms. Because the Chinese is largely egalitarian, the country faces has less
influence from other interest groups. 

To summarise, the Chinese model of trade is clearly superior to the neoliberal model of trade
because it not only makes room for effeciency, R&D, creativity and innovation, and most
importantly, economic growth. it also provides cohesion and unity, peace and tranquility, income
equality, economic stability and many other aspects of a successful economy.