Liquidationism and the Treasury view were the original neoliberal ideas
Evidence
These ideas were, I argue, the original neoliberal ideas in that they drew on the classical liberalism of Locke, Hume, and Smith, and applied themselves anew to the policy issues of the day. I then discuss the responses that these ideas engendered, the most relevant of which are John Maynard Keynes’s refutation of austerity policies and Joseph Schumpeter’s strange abrogation of them. By 1942, it seems that the die has been cast and austerity had been sent away to the retirement home for bad economic ideas. It turned out, however, to be a premature retirement. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 271
Categorization
- DEFINE: Blyth re-dates and re-frames the origins of neoliberalism as interwar, classical-liberal-derived doctrines — a definitional claim about intellectual lineage.
- XREF: Challenges standard narratives (Mirowski, Peck) that locate the genuine neoliberal break in the 1930s-40s Mont Pèlerin tradition; a historiographic disagreement worth tracking against Mattei. — connects to: Early neoliberals favored the gold standard and opposed floating rates — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 428; Postwar IMF Keynesianism concealed classical liberal assumptions derived from 1920s Treasury logic — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 443; Early neoliberals steered boom policy while Keynesians amended busts — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 394
- QUESTION: To chase: Schumpeter’s ‘strange abrogation’ — why did he, unlike Keynes, refuse to refute austerity? Worth verifying in chapter 4.
Broader Connections
- Early neoliberals favored the gold standard and opposed floating rates
#expands(0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 428 - Postwar IMF Keynesianism concealed classical liberal assumptions derived from 1920s Treasury logic
#expands(0.72) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 443