Free-market economists could favor pragmatic state intervention over doctrine.

Evidence

Viner shared an instinctual support for free markets with Robbins, but he was much more willing to abandon his conservative inclinations to accommodate situational complexities and the po liti cal tenor of the time. “While I am more of a defeatist than you,” he confi ded to his close friend in 1940, “and am more disposed to be content when the lesser of evils is chosen instead of the true good, I am wholly and admiringly with you in your aims.” Robbins recognized and respected Viner’s reluctance to align himself with any abstract doctrine. “Jack was not a believer in any orthodox creed,” Robbins wrote in a retrospective on Viner’s career. “But he believed passionately in the liberal values: equality before the law, the maximum freedom for the individual compatible with similar privileges for his fellows, sympathy and help for the unfortunate.” Viner’s ideological fl exibility gained him a reputation for equanimity and respect for multiple points of view. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 101

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines an early-20th-century free-market liberalism distinct from later neoclassical dogma.
• XREF: Connects to the Mont Pelerin Society’s later, more doctrinaire turn discussed in this book’s broader history. — connects to: Free-market economists of the era placed democratic will above economic principle. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 100; Early free-market economists legitimized some government intervention; later ones did not — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 375; Absolutist free-market rhetoric can backfire and persuade readers toward intervention — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 91 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Early free-market economists legitimized some government intervention; later ones did not #expands (0.90) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 375
• German ordoliberalism favors state framework provision over neoliberal state withdrawal. #exemplifies (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 164
• Absolutist free-market rhetoric can backfire and persuade readers toward intervention #complicates (0.75) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 91