Early neoliberals explicitly distanced themselves from classical laissez-faire doctrine

Evidence

That is why “neoliberalism” is not only a historically accurate designation of a specific strain of political thought, but it is descriptively acute as well: most of the early neoliberals explicitly distanced themselves from what they considered the outmoded classical liberal doctrine of laissez-faire. They sought to offer something newer, and less passive. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 117

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies why the term ‘neoliberal’ is apt: it names a departure from classical liberalism, not a revival of it.
• XREF: connects to: Early liberals shared an unresolved ambivalence about the state that seeded austerity — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 269; Working economists abandoned laissez-faire decades before the public realized it — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 12; Pre-1930s market advocates held no coherent shared doctrine — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 46 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Early neoliberalism emerged partly from a critique of laissez-faire and naturalist philosophies of history #corroborates (0.95) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 379
• Early neoliberalism rejected laissez-faire in favor of a state-built competitive order. #expands (0.92) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 365
• The Colloque first defined neoliberalism as framework-building rather than laissez-faire #corroborates (0.92) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 281
• Early neoliberals rejected laissez-faire and wanted strong state action #expands (0.90)
• The term ‘neoliberal’ was adopted deliberately to distance liberalism from pure laissez-faire #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 279