At this point the MPS group displayed an understanding of development economics that still uncomfortably resembled traditional colonial economics underpinned by Victorian anthropology: According to Benham, people lacked the propensity to save, and according to Röpke, there was a lack not only of entrepreneurs, but also of a class and the spiritual-moral preconditions that could eventually generate entrepreneurs. Advancing industrialization strategies thus were considered ill-conceived strategies for various reasons, pursued by a dangerous—Jekyll and Hyde like—alliance of Western socialists and government elites in the developing world.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1290