Brunner refuted the claim that foreign aid to the Third World could be viewed as a form of restitution for the West's historical sins, since colonization had brought significant material progress to the Third World: "Justification of the NIEO in terms of an established 'right' based on 'past exploitation' should eventually be recognized as a theme without support in reality. It remains, however, a powerful ideological weapon to lure the support of a gullible western intelligentsia for the persistent raids on the wealth of western nations" (Brunner 1996a, 152).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1767