Without a doubt, early Anglo-Saxon neoliberal thought was inclined toward a more brazen individualism and tended to impose stricter standards as far as the government's concrete tasks of social policy were concerned, in comparison to German ordoliberal theory and practice. However, neither Hayek's sharp criticism of the frequently quoted weasel-word “social,” nor his skepticism about the term social market economy, should rashly be interpreted as mounting an implacable opposition toward the approach developed by German ordoliberals. Hayek certainly was afraid that using the term social would lead to a tendency to fortify the welfare state against the ordoliberal intention. On the other hand, Hayek and even his “Spiritus Rector,” Mises, were keenly aware that the implementation of the market economy in Germany as a social market economy was a function of the specific political circumstances in West Germany after 1945. For without a flexible and pragmatic political approach, the reintroduction of a market economy would arguably have not even been feasible in the immediate aftermath of the war given widespread public awareness of and concern about the cooperation of capital, academia, and the Nazi rulers.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 516