After distancing themselves to certain degrees from the ruling strata in the late Nazi regime, ordoliberals endeavored to cooperate with Western Allies at an early stage—before the end of the war (mainly through international contacts in Switzerland). The ordoliberal circle could also take advantage of the clean reputations of Röpke and Rüstow, both of whom had gained international respect as antifascist scientists. Capitalizing on Röpke as one of Erhard's and Adenauer's most influential advisers, but also on Rüstow, who as chairman of the Aktionsgemeinschaft Soziale Marktwirtschaft represented German neoliberalism in public, the Freiburg school benefited from earlier connections. Legitimacy provided by the exiled economists for this line of thought extended to the scholars who had stayed behind in Germany.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 547