An organizational sociology of rationalization of economic policies in Spain and Denmark in the age of neoliberal globalization

Abstract

In the age of neoliberal economic globalization, rationalization process, as cognitive instrument and as normative myth, has intensified its tendency towards technocrazitation. This is more evident in society’s most complex domains, such as the economy. It is assumed, however, that an economic policy in a democratic society requires a difficult and virtuous balance between politico-democratic rationality and technical-scientific rationality, within local preconditions related to the working of representative democracy and economic sciences. The role of academic and professional economists in economic policy is an adequate domain to analyse the tension between these two rationalities. With data from official digital sources, the policy participation of economists in three organizational contexts is compared: a) as high-level technocrats in public administration; b) as members of government or ministries; and c) as members of advisory and regulatory public organizations. The rationalization of economic policy in the two countries displays two different realities and types. In Denmark a democratic-scientific model is observed: within parliament’s control economists have a relatively high level of autonomy and transparency, both as academic advisors and as public technocrats. In Spain a political-technocratic model is found: within executive government’s ample power economists have a relatively low level of autonomy and public economic technocrats are under political control. These differences derive from state’s particular institutional and organizational trajectories in the two countries. Some of the effects of these institutional differences in economic policymaking can be observed in the different general and sectorial performance of the two national economies.