In another historical phenomenon that I feel has not received sufficient attention, soon after many of the neoliberals renounced the label, opponents to their right began to resort to it in order to be provocative. Murray Rothbard, from a more libertarian perspective, began to excoriate Friedman for his position. Later classical liberals, dissatisfied specifically with the evolution of the Mont Pèlerin Society, would resort to the term to contrast the position of Ludwig von Mises with what they considered the debased version found in Friedrich Hayek and elsewhere. … But for the nonce, I trust everyone can accept that the nominalist position is flawed: the term was and sometimes still is used in a sensible way on both the left and right, and moreover, the roster of people and institutions referenced is fairly stable over time: members of the Mont Pèlerin Society and their close associates. To a first approximation, the MPS will serve as our Rosetta Stone: any idea or person with membership or strong ties to the organization will qualify as "neoliberal." With further research, we can expand the purview to encompass outer orbits of the Neoliberal Thought Collective.

Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis …, loc. 108