During the 1980s and 1990s, waves of neoconservatism swept the world. The movement was sparked by two politicians: Margaret Thatcher, who became the prime minister of Britain in 1979, and Ronald Reagan, who became president of the United States in 1981. In Japan, a neoconservative administration headed by Yasuhiro Nakasone came into being in 1982.
These three politicians all demonstrated exceptionally strong leadership and vigorously pushed neoconservative reforms. Their common objective was to bring the market closer to "perfection" and make it more efficient. The functions of the market were threatened by thickets of government regulations that did more harm than good. That was particularly true of Japan. Those market reforms made good progress in a relatively short period: The markets did come closer to "perfection."
John Maynard Keynes expounded the theory that because the market is "imperfect," governments should step in by means of fiscal and monetary policy to resolve problems such as unemployment and to eliminate instabilities in the business cycle. Thatcher, Reagan and Nakasone all tried to minimize government intervention by making the "imperfect" market more "perfect."