Atlas was incorporated in July 1981. The founder, Sir Antony Fisher, had created the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London in 1955, which played a pivotal role in spreading neoliberal ideology within British public opinion, policy, and political circles in the 1970s and 1980s. The success of the IEA meant that Fisher was invited to launch sister organizations in Canada and the US and soon became a “think tank entrepreneur.” In the late 1970s, Fisher was ready to take the next step—to create an organization with the mission to “litter the world with free-market think tanks.” In 1979, he sought formal endorsement from key neoliberal luminaries—Margaret Thatcher, F. A. Hayek, and Milton Friedman, writing “A letter from you … expressing your confidence in the effectiveness of a proliferation of the IEA idea would be immensely valuable.”

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 542