The Chicago School, Hayek, and Neoliberalism

Abstract

In recent work Philip Mirowski and Rob Van Horn have made a number of important revisionist claims regarding the history of the 'Chicago School.' The claims involve the role of F.A. Hayek in creating the School, the reasons behind some changes of views of members of the School on policy matters, and the role of the School in spreading the doctrine of 'Neoliberalism.' My paper assesses the cogency of the various Mirowski-Van Horn theses.

Keywords: F.A. Hayek, Chicago School, Milton Friedman, Aaron Director, Henry Simons, Neoliberalism, classical liberalism

JEL Classification: B20, B30, B31