Viner subordinated economic doctrine to democratic preference for controls

Evidence

Although he took pains to acknowledge that size had some benefi ts, he identifi ed “the important economic issue of our day” as the fact that “the mere size of business units tends almost inevitably to result in attempts to escape the impact of competition which have important— and in my opinion highly undesirable— consequences for the operation of the economic system.” He also strongly believed that democracy should take pre ce dence over the dictates of economic theory. If the public wanted direct controls, he expressed the opinion that economists should set about developing effi cient implementations rather than expressing frustration at perceived theoretical defi ciencies. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 100

Categorization

• XREF: Viner’s pragmatic flexibility anticipates the later MPS-internal tensions between doctrinal purity (Robbins) and policy realism (Keynesian accommodation). — connects to: Free-market economists could favor pragmatic state intervention over doctrine. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 101; Capital controls were assumed necessary for democratic domestic policy — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 419

Broader Connections

• Free-market economists could favor pragmatic state intervention over doctrine. #corroborates (0.92) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 101
• Capital controls were assumed necessary for democratic domestic policy #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 419