Neoliberalism reversed classical liberalism’s suspicion of monopoly and corporate power.

Evidence

Corporations can do no wrong, or at least they are not to be blamed if they do. This is one of the strongest areas of divergence from classical liberalism, with its ingrained suspicion of joint-stock companies and monopoly stretching from Adam Smith to Henry Simons. In the 1950s, the MPS set out entertaining suspicions of corporate power, with the ordoliberals especially concerned with the promotion of a strong antitrust capacity on the part of the state. But starting with the Chicago law and economics movement (see Van Horn, Chapter 6 in this volume) and then progressively spreading to treatments of entrepreneurs and the “markets for innovation,” neoliberals began to argue consistently that not only was monopoly not harmful to the operation of the market, but in any event, it was an epiphenomenon attributable to the misguided activities of the state and interest groups. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2133

Categorization

• XREF: Key for the reader’s intellectual-history goal: the ordoliberal-to-Chicago shift within the MPS is a core mechanism of the network’s evolution. — connects to: Neoliberalism inverted classical liberalism by defending monopoly and corporate power — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 175; Chicago School neoliberalism departed from classical and German liberalism over corporate concentration — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 158; Neoliberalism broke sharply with prewar classical liberalism rather than continuing it — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 778 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Friedman reversed the classical liberal claim that monopoly suppresses competition #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1118
• Ordoliberalism inverted classical liberalism by making economic effectiveness depend on political and legal systems #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 362