The Mont Pèlerin Society was founded as political philosophy, not economics.

Evidence

One of the more serious texts to recently commit this error is Thorsen and Lie (2006). James Buchanan clarified the place of economics within the MPS in his presidential address to the 1984 Cambridge meeting: “Professionally, economists have dominated the membership of the Society from its founding, but the whole thrust of the Society, as initially expressed in its founding documents, has been toward elaborating the philosophical ideas without which a free society cannot exist. That is to say, political philosophy is what this Society has been, is, and ought to be all about. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2168

Categorization

• DEFINE: Buchanan’s own words settle the contested question of what the MPS is fundamentally about — political philosophy, not economics.
• XREF: connects to: Mont Pèlerin Society economists drove academic changes, contrary to conventional wisdom. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 2170; The Mont Pèlerin Society exerted little direct influence on economics — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 504; The Mont Pèlerin Society’s intellectual mission deliberately avoided propaganda roles — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1450 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The Mont Pèlerin Society exerted little direct influence on economics #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 504
• The Mont Pèlerin Society’s intellectual mission deliberately avoided propaganda roles #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1450
• Mont Pèlerin Society’s first decade failed to reconcile its competing scientific and ideological visions #qualifies (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 91