Neoliberal economists saw public university funding and progressive taxation as threats to research quality

Evidence

After all, there was something to be said for coercion. An elite could potentially countervail such views. But larger political forces hampered its ability to do so. Stigler complained that the demand expressed by government for science as channeled through the system of publicly funded universities and grant programs had become intertwined with a set of egalitarian concerns, encouraging “diffusion” of talent, leading ultimately to a decrease in the quality of research, entrenching professional consensus. Estate taxes eliminated the possibility of a future Rockefeller, and therefore the establishment of another University of Chicago was out of the question. States had diverted resources to the system of public universities that otherwise would have gone to a Harvard or, better yet, a Chicago. Overall, Stigler was skeptical of the prospects for US higher education, but he held out limited hope that a small set of institutions might yet help to impose the higher standards that he so desired. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 121

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s longstanding interest in how elites design institutions; also links to earlier chapters in this very volume on MPS attitudes toward state and coercion. — connects to: Neoliberalism wants science dissolved into market activity — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 231; Stigler blamed egalitarian public funding of universities for declining research quality — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 121
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what empirical evidence did Stigler actually marshal that ‘diffusion’ lowered research quality, or was this purely ideological?

Broader Connections

• Stigler blamed egalitarian public funding of universities for declining research quality #exemplifies (0.95) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 121
• Neoliberalism wants science dissolved into market activity #qualifies (0.70) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 231