Reputation as a Keynesian can mask an earlier Austrian-network allegiance.

Evidence

Giersch has been considered a modern Keynesian economist in Germany, but his work displayed a decisive swerve towards supply-side economics and Austrian perspectives from the 1970s onward. Even before this redirection he was personally close to Hayek and maintained a friendship with him throughout his life. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 293

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the recurring theme in the reader’s library that public intellectual reputations often mislead about actual doctrinal commitments. — connects to: Hayek’s obscurity in 1931 belied his dense Viennese network — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 65; Ordoliberal identity was built on opposition to Marxism and Keynesianism — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 528; Ordoliberalism, not just Austrian economics, holds a legitimate claim to the neoliberal label. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 77 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Unknown whether Giersch’s ‘Keynesian’ German label was a deliberate cover enabling his supply-side turn to seem like a break rather than continuity.

Broader Connections

• Ordoliberalism, not just Austrian economics, holds a legitimate claim to the neoliberal label. #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 77
• German ordoliberals and Austrian neoliberals differ only in emphasis, not substance #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 500
• Ordoliberal identity was built on opposition to Marxism and Keynesianism #complicates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 528