Neoliberals abandoned economic measurement for institutional design after the 1930s

Evidence

Less frequently observed is the turn of this group away from statistics and business cycle research by the end of the 1930s. I argue that they concluded that the world economy was sublime, beyond repre­sen­ta­tion and quantification. This conclusion turned them away from the documentation and analy­sis of the economy as such and ­toward the design of institutions necessary to sustain and protect the sacrosanct space of the world economy. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 76

Categorization

• XREF: The shift from measuring the economy to designing protective institutions parallels themes in Milgrom’s work on institutions arising where information is costly. — connects to: Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1907; Neoliberal paternalism in welfare traces back to 1930s European neoliberals, not 1980s social conservatism — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 216; Neoliberals rejected planning yet immediately designed world-scale institutional blueprints. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 398 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberals pursued an engineered order rather than expecting free markets to emerge naturally #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1907
• Neoliberal paternalism in welfare traces back to 1930s European neoliberals, not 1980s social conservatism #expands (0.80) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 216