The Chicago School was founded by Simons and Hayek with Volker Fund money

Evidence

Whereas postwar German neoliberalism emphasized a strong state, U.S. neoliberals worked hard to narrowly define the areas in which a strong neoliberal state could ascertain its pro-capitalist power and roll back the New Deal advance of social liberals and trade unionists. Chicago became the key staging ground for forging a lasting alliance between neoliberal intellectuals and the corporate opposition to the New Deal. Contrary to the widespread belief in a continuous history of the Chicago School, Rob Van Horn and Phil Mirowski in Chapter 4 document the central roles played by Henry Simons and Friedrich von Hayek in founding the Chicago bastion of neoliberalism. The combined effort of these two intellectuals succeeded in establishing the Free Market Project in Chicago at the behest of the Volker Fund. Volker’s president, Harold Luhnow, hoped to obtain an American version of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom and was willing to fund the academic positions of Aaron Director and Hayek, as well as subsidize travel money for American participation in Mont Pèlerin Society proceedings in Europe. But more importantly, a specific Chicago version of young and radical neoliberalism emerged during the 1950s, which differed markedly both from the liberalism of the older generation of Chicago-based scholars like Simons and Knight, and from the Austrian economics and philosophy Hayek promoted. The chapter demonstrates that the second Chicago School and the Mont Pèlerin Society were substantively parts of one project rather than different parallel projects. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 155

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the standard narrative of a continuous Chicago School lineage; connects to Mirowski’s wider Machine Dreams and Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste work on the neoliberal thought collective. — connects to: Frank Knight’s lectures converted socialists into libertarians, founding the Chicago School — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 92; Early Chicago economist Simons backed progressive taxes and corporate breakup — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 106; Hayek personally recruited Aaron Director and founded the Chicago School — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 753 (+10 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘neoliberalism’ diverged internally — German ordoliberal strong-state vs. Anglo-American radical market conception.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 155

Broader Connections

• The Chicago School’s founding involved doctrinal negotiation, not just funding #qualifies (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 761
• Hayek personally founded both the Chicago School and the Mont Pèlerin Society #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 765
• Hayek personally recruited Aaron Director and founded the Chicago School #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 753
• Frank Knight is misattributed as Chicago School founder, obscuring Hayek’s role #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 764
• Volker Fund money paid visiting professors for Chicago’s Antitrust Project. #corroborates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 837
• Henry Simons anchored Hayek’s Chicago network through his closeness to Hutchins #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 723
• Ordoliberals welcomed state intervention, unlike the Chicago School #qualifies (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 102
• Volker Fund controlled Hayek’s 1946 American lecture tour logistics and finances #expands (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 740