In April 1947, 39 scholars, journalists, and historians climbed a mountain in Switzerland. They weren't there for the skiing. They were terrified. The world was smoldering from the ruins of World War II, and to these men—mostly economists—the future looked bleak. They saw the rise of central planning, the expanding reach of the Soviet Union, and the New Deal in America as different shades of the same terrifying color: totalitarianism.
Friedrich Hayek, the man who organized the whole thing, basically thought Western civilization was about to go off a cliff. He wrote The Road to Serfdom to warn people that even well-intentioned government intervention leads to the loss of individual freedom. But a book wasn't enough. He needed a brain trust. So, he gathered his smartest friends at the Hotel du Parc.
That was the birth of the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS).
It wasn't a political party. It wasn't a lobby. It was a "voluntary association of persons who continue to believe in the same ideals." They had no staff, no headquarters, and no public PR machine. Yet, seventy-odd years later, if you look at how your taxes are structured, how international trade works, or why your local utility was privatized, you’re looking at the fingerprints of that 1947 meeting.
The Secret Intellectual Engine of Neoliberalism
People love a good conspiracy theory. You’ve probably heard folks on the internet talk about the Mont Pelerin Society as some kind of "shadow government" or a "neoliberal cult." Honestly? It’s much more boring than that, but also way more influential.
The MPS was designed to be an intellectual club. The goal wasn't to win an election in 1948. It was to win the argument in 1980. Hayek understood something most people miss: politicians don't come up with their own ideas. They just pick from the "intellectual buffet" that's already been set by academics and writers years prior.
Think about the names in that room. You had Milton Friedman, who would go on to become the face of free-market economics in the late 20th century. You had Ludwig von Mises, the uncompromising defender of the gold standard and Austrian economics. You had Karl Popper, the philosopher who defined what an "open society" actually looks like.
They were the underdogs back then. In 1947, Keynesianism—the idea that the government should actively manage the economy—was the only game in town. The MPS members were the rebels. They were the outcasts.
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How the Ideas Actually Traveled
So, how does a tiny group of guys chatting on a Swiss mountain end up influencing Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher decades later?
It happened through a process called "the secondhand dealers in ideas." Hayek used this term to describe journalists, teachers, and policy wonks. The MPS would meet every year or two to sharpen their arguments. Then, those members would go home and start think tanks.
- The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London? Founded by Antony Fisher after he talked to Hayek.
- The Heritage Foundation or The Cato Institute? They were basically the American offspring of these intellectual seeds.
These think tanks took complex economic theories and turned them into "white papers" and "policy briefs" that busy politicians could actually read. By the time the stagflation of the 1970s hit, the "Keynesian" experts were stumped. They didn't know how to fix an economy that had both high unemployment and high inflation.
The Mont Pelerin Society was waiting in the wings. They had the scripts ready. "Deregulate. Privatize. Cut taxes. Control the money supply."
When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, she famously reached into her handbag during a meeting, pulled out Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty, slammed it on the table, and said, "This is what we believe."
She wasn't kidding.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Society
If you read certain critics, they’ll tell you the Mont Pelerin Society is just a front for "Big Business."
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It’s actually more complicated. While they definitely got funding from wealthy donors and corporations over the years, the founders were often at odds with actual businessmen.
Why? Because big businesses often love regulation. Regulation creates "moats" that keep smaller competitors out. The MPS purists, especially the early ones, hated that. They didn't want a "pro-business" economy; they wanted a "pro-market" economy. There is a huge difference. One is about protecting existing companies; the other is about letting them fail if they aren't efficient.
Another misconception is that they were all one big happy family.
The meetings were legendary for their screaming matches.
At one point during the early years, Ludwig von Mises reportedly stormed out of a session on income distribution, turned to the group—which included Friedman and Hayek—and shouted, "You're all a bunch of socialists!"
If you think Friedman was a socialist, your window of "acceptable" economics is pretty narrow. But that’s how intense these guys were. They were debating the very soul of the West.
The Mont Pelerin Society in the 21st Century
Does the MPS still matter?
The world has changed. The "Neoliberal" era that peaked in the 90s is facing a massive backlash. From the populist right to the progressive left, everyone is skeptical of free trade and globalism now. You’ve got people like Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz pointing out the massive inequality that these policies arguably helped create.
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Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which used to be the church of MPS-style thinking, has published papers questioning whether "neoliberalism" was oversold.
But here’s the thing: the structure of the world is still built on their foundation. Central bank independence? That's an MPS idea. Floating exchange rates? MPS. The focus on "shareholder value"? You guessed it.
The Society still meets. They still hold their regional and general assemblies. They’ve expanded significantly into Latin America and Eastern Europe, regions that felt the sharp edge of state control for decades and were hungry for the MPS message.
Why You Should Care
You might not care about economic theory, but economic theory cares about you. It's the "operating system" of your life.
The Mont Pelerin Society is the ultimate case study in how ideas move from the fringe to the mainstream. It proves that a small, dedicated group of people with a coherent vision can change the world without ever holding office.
It also reminds us that no intellectual victory is permanent. The MPS won the 20th century. But as we deal with climate change, AI-driven job displacement, and crumbling infrastructure, the "hands-off" approach they championed is being stress-tested like never before.
Actionable Steps to Understand the Influence
If you want to see how these ideas play out in your own life, don't just take my word for it. Look at the plumbing of the system.
- Check the pedigree of your favorite news sources. When you hear an expert from a think tank on the news, look up that think tank’s history. You’ll often find a direct line back to an MPS member.
- Read the "Granddaddy" texts. Don't just read about them. Pick up The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek or Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. Even if you hate their conclusions, you have to understand their logic to argue against them effectively.
- Trace the "Privatization" trail. Look into how your country’s postal service, rail, or energy grid was managed 50 years ago versus today. Usually, the shift from state-run to private-run was guided by papers written by MPS-affiliated scholars.
- Follow the money, but also the "prestige." Notice how certain economic ideas become "common sense" while others are dismissed as "crazy." The MPS’s greatest achievement wasn't passing a law; it was changing what we consider to be "normal" in a modern economy.
The Mont Pelerin Society teaches us that the long game is the only game worth playing. They were willing to wait 30 years for the world to catch up to them. Whether you think they saved the West or broke it, you can't deny they were the most effective group of "intellectual influencers" in history.
Whatever comes next—whether it's a return to "Big Government" or some new hybrid system—it will likely be born in a room just like the one at Hotel du Parc, where a few people are currently talking about things that everyone else thinks are impossible.