Reputation for propaganda, not journal publication, made Bauer Thatcher’s favorite economist.

Evidence

Bauer’s international reputation was as a propagandist for economic liberalism, not as an eminent economist; which was why he became Margaret Thatcher’s favorite economist. Arthur Shenfield is presented by Hartwell as an “eminent economist,” but in the postwar period the measure of eminence had become publication in the leading English-language academic journals, and there is no trace of this achievement for Shenfield. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 418

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to this reader’s austerity/neoliberalism goal — Thatcher’s favorite economist being a propagandist rather than an academic connects the network to policy.
• SEED: Angle: the measure of a postwar economist shifted to top-journal publication, reclassifying MPS figures as non-eminent — a shift that empowered propagandists.