The academics in question did not restrict themselves to the academic sphere. Quite a number of key neoliberal economists were ready and willing to help create political circumstances favorable to testing their ideas in the “real world,” rather than to simply wait for an occasion to do so. Intellectual projects, in their turn, were dependent on crucial external partners in order to succeed. Big business, always an important political actor in Chilean history, provided critical funding and media channels indispensable to influence public opinion and to destabilize the existing system. Last but not least, the military provided the necessary force to overthrow the duly elected Allende government when the right-wing opposition forces lost all hopes of achieving their ends through electoral change.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1565