What were the causes and historical context for most governments (in the 70's I believe) change its welfare policies to neoliberal/laissez faire policies? Can you recommend some books to learn more about this history period?

by giovanna_danolv
Dialecticus

One major work on this is David Harvey's A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005). If you really want to get into the weed, the economist and historian Philip Mirowski digs into the origins of neoliberalism in any number of his books, like The Road from Mont Pelerin (2009)