Hayek drew partly on the philosopher H. B. Acton's defence of 'the morals of markets', in his 1971 book commissioned for the Institute for Economic Affairs by the Mont Pèlerin Society member Arthur Seldon. H. B. Acton, The Morals of Markets: An Ethical Exploration (London: Longman/IEA, 1971). He also relied on the work of the economic historian H.M. Robertson, whose 1933 study of the rise of economic individualism challenged Max Weber's account of the Calvinist influence on the 'spirit of capitalism' and argued that it was the development of industry and commerce that had brought about a shift in morals, not vice versa.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 491