Monetary order was the one question that persistently divided the Mont Pelerin Society

Evidence

While opinions within the neoliberal thought collective of the MPS converged on most issues, the question of the monetary system proved an exception. In his insider’s history of the MPS, Max Hartwell observed that the only two topics that sparked continuous controversies were the gold standard and the related question of “fixed versus flexible exchange rates.” At the 1984 conference in Cambridge, John Davenport could still draw “a laugh by observing that the original Pèlerinians could agree on everything save the subjects of God and gold.” — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 413

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader Austerity/Neoliberalism reading on the internal varieties and debates within the neoliberal thought collective — the monetary question is a live internal fracture in a movement often caricatured as monolithic. — connects to: Neoliberals were deeply divided over monetary order despite claims of unity — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 435; The Mont Pèlerin Society contained rival, incompatible conceptions of the market — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2126; Mont Pèlerin Society members disagreed sharply over development policy in the 1950s — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1261 (+2 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: ‘the joke as historiography’ — Davenport’s quip that the Pèlerinians agreed on everything save God and gold encodes a real map of the movement’s internal fault lines, which a closer look at the Hartwell insider history could substantiate.

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism was internally divided over monetary policy for decades #corroborates (0.95) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 410
• Neoliberals were deeply divided over monetary order despite claims of unity #corroborates (0.90) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 435
• Mont Pèlerin members shared respect for prices but held fundamentally incompatible worldviews #corroborates (0.80) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 277
• The Mont Pèlerin Society contained rival, incompatible conceptions of the market #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2126
• Mont Pèlerin Society members disagreed sharply over development policy in the 1950s #qualifies (0.70) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1261