Hayek founded the Mont Pèlerin Society believing ideas, not interests, drive change

Evidence

When Hayek was preparing to found the Mont Pèlerin Society, he turned to Keynes’s repre sen ta tion of the relationship between ideas and historical change. Keynes had famously commented at the end of The General Theory that “practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual infl uences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” As Hayek observed, that was an assertion that Keynes was uniquely qualifi ed to posit. But he went on to quote Keynes’s subsequent, less often cited words: “I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the fi eld of economic and po liti cal philosophy there are not many who are infl uenced by new theories after they are twentyfi ve or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.” In this regard Hayek and Keynes agreed. People doubt that “human ideas and beliefs are the main mover of history,” Hayek asserted, because “we all fi nd it so diffi cult to imagine that our belief [sic] might be different from what they in fact are.” He attributed a certain merit to this perception of intractability: the “interval between the time when ideas are given currency and the time when they govern action” can, he acknowledged, be long. “It is usually a generation,” he said, “or even more, and that is one reason why on the one hand our present thinking seems so powerless to infl uence events, and why on the other so much well meant effort at po liti cal education and propaganda is mispent [sic], because it is almost invariably aimed at a short run effect.” Hayek’s goal was to imitate the socialists, who had long emphasized the primacy of ideas and maintained “the courage to be ‘utopian.’ ” The Mont Pèlerin Society was, above all else, an expression of faith in the power of philosophical abstractions to instigate longterm po liti cal change. Hayek had no explicit theory of transmission and little interest in cultivating or supporting modes of propagation; his sole concern was to create a space that would foster the generative capacity of ideas. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 546

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Keynes’s famous General Theory passage and the whole ideas-vs-interests debate echoed in Friedman’s later writings and the broader history of economic ideas literature. — connects to: Hayek founded the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947 to rebuild market advocacy networks. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 30; Hayek founded MPS to build a worldview insulated from immediate policy pressures — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 307; The Mont Pèlerin Society pioneered a novel hierarchy for incubating political theory and action. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 122 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Hayek had no explicit theory of transmission — worth probing how this contrast with the later neoliberal ‘think tank’ infrastructure (Institute of Economic Affairs, Heritage) came about.

Broader Connections

• Hayek founded the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947 to rebuild market advocacy networks. #expands (0.90) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 30