Neoliberalism defined itself as a middle path between laissez-faire and planning

Evidence

The reduction of neoliberal theory to market fundamentalism is one of the most misleading tendencies in comprehending it as a body of thought. In fact, the neoliberal project from the 1930s onward was about charting a route between laissez-faire and planning, between universal scientific optimism and anti-scientific nihilism, and between a belief in the imminent collapse of capitalism and a belief in its natural stability. Dieter Plehwe traces the engagement of neoliberals with one of the most notorious prophets of capitalism’s decline, Joseph A. Schumpeter. Plehwe shows how neoliberals revived and revised Schumpeter’s understanding of the entrepreneur. Israel Kirzner, Herbert Giersch, and others grafted Schumpeter onto the theories of Ludwig von Mises, universalizing the concept of the entrepreneur and extending it from a discrete sociological group to each and every human. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 38

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides the working definition of the neoliberal project that deflates the ‘market fundamentalism’ slur foundational to the crude caricature.
• XREF: The Schumpeter/Mises grafting and universalized entrepreneur resonates with Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics lectures framing the entrepreneur-of-self. — connects to: Neoliberalism differs from laissez-faire by making competition its core principle — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 105; Neoliberalism is an interventionist flexible policy approach, not a laissez-faire orthodoxy — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 22; The Colloque first defined neoliberalism as framework-building rather than laissez-faire — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 281 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism is a novel doctrine in flux, not a return to laissez-faire #corroborates (0.90) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 439
• The term ‘neoliberal’ was adopted deliberately to distance liberalism from pure laissez-faire #corroborates (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 279
• The Colloque first defined neoliberalism as framework-building rather than laissez-faire #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 281
• Neoliberalism differs from laissez-faire liberalism by using state intervention to create competition #expands (0.80)
• Neoliberalism pivoted from the economy to the framework encasing it #expands (0.80) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 88
• Early neoliberalism emerged partly from a critique of laissez-faire and naturalist philosophies of history #corroborates (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 379