Upon closer inspection, it appears that earlier neoliberal scholars had been severely hampered in aligning their perspectives on development issues owing, first, to a sometimes hysterical anticommunism prevailing during the 1950s. As a consequence, many members of the emerging neoliberal camp relegated questions of development economics to second place behind international security concerns. Second, a strong commitment to colonial economics explains the dominance of conservative intellectual baggage over future-oriented neoliberal perspectives, which can be easily detected in the works of many early members of the neoliberal network.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1267