Hence, neoliberals felt compelled to contemplate organizing intellectual life in such a way that would respect their developing pro-market creed. They did so in a variety of ways, too many to discuss here. One of the most significant concerned the appropriation of the “marketplace of ideas,” a metaphor previously used by their political enemies to support robust democratic discussion, but now repurposed by neoliberals to rebut an ambition they increasingly regarded as dangerous. Beginning with Aaron Director, MPS members would with increasing frequency place intellectual, political, and trade concepts side by side in their work. Consequently, they came to explore the implications of the metaphor for organizing intellectual life more closely.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 102