Coining Neoliberalism: Interwar Germany and the Neglected Origins of a Pejorative Moniker

Artikel

Widespread use of the term "neoliberalism" is of surprisingly recent origin, dating to only the late 20 th century. The "neoliberalism" literature has nonetheless settled on an origin story that depicts the term as a self-selected moniker from the 1938 Walter Lippmann Colloquium. This paper challenges the 1938 origin, positing an earlier adoption of the term by Marxist and fascist political writers in 1920s German-language texts. These writers used "neo/neu-liberalismus" as a derisive moniker for the "Marginal Utility School," then anchored at the University of Vienna. Definitional commonalities link this earlier use to pejorative deployment of the term in the present.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch ; ISSN: 2568-762X ; Volume: 141 ; Year: 2021 ; Issue: 3 ; Pages: 189-214

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; History of Economic Thought: Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian) ; Current Heterodox Approaches: Austrian
• Subject: Neoliberalism ; Mont Pèlerin Society ; Mises ; Foucault ; Walter Lippmann Colloquium

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Magness, Phillip W.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Duncker & Humblot
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2021

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.3790/schm.141.3.189
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET