Mont Pelerin Society

Aims

In its "Statement of Aims", 8 April 1947, the scholars were worried about the dangers faced by civilization.

Over large stretches of the Earth’s surface the essential conditions of human dignity and freedom have already disappeared. In others they are under constant menace from the development of current tendencies of policy. The position of the individual and the voluntary group are progressively undermined by extensions of arbitrary power. Even that most precious possession of Western Man, freedom of thought and expression, is threatened by the spread of creeds which, claiming the privilege of tolerance when in the position of a minority, seek only to establish a position of power in which they can suppress and obliterate all views but their own.

The group also stated that it is "difficult to imagine a society in which freedom may be effectively preserved" without the "diffused power and initiative" associated with "private property and the competitive market", and found it desirable inter alia to study the following matters:

1. "The analysis and exploration of the nature of the present crisis so as to bring home to others its essential moral and economic origins.
2. The redefinition of the functions of the state so as to distinguish more clearly between the totalitarian and the liberal order.
3. Methods of re-establishing the rule of law and of assuring its development in such manner that individuals and groups are not in a position to encroach upon the freedom of others and private rights are not allowed to become a basis of predatory power.
4. The possibility of establishing minimum standards by means not inimical to initiative and functioning of the market.
5. Methods of combating the misuse of history for the furtherance of creeds hostile to liberty.
6. The problem of the creation of an international order conducive to the safeguarding of peace and liberty and permitting the establishment of harmonious international economic relations."

The group "seeks to establish no meticulous and hampering orthodoxy", "conduct propaganda" or align with some party. It aims to facilitate "the exchange of views – to contribute to the preservation and improvement of the free society.

Name

The Mont Pelerin Society was created on 10 April 1947 at a conference organized by Friedrich Hayek. Originally, it was to be named the Acton-Tocqueville Society. After Frank Knight protested against naming the group after two "Roman Catholic aristocrats" and Ludwig von Mises expressed concern that the mistakes made by Acton and Tocqueville would be connected with the society, the decision was made to name it after Mont Pèlerin, the Swiss resort where it convened.

History

In 1947, 39 scholars, mostly economists, with some historians and philosophers, were invited by Professor Friedrich Hayek to meet to discuss the state, and possible fate of classical liberalism, his goal being an organization which would resist interventionism and preserve classical liberalism. He wanted to discuss how to combat the "state ascendancy and Marxist or Keynesian planning [that was] sweeping the globe". The first meeting took place in the Hotel du Parc in the Swiss village of Mont Pèlerin, near the city of Vevey, Switzerland. William Rappard, a Swiss academic, diplomat and founder of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, addressed the society's inaugural meeting. In his "Opening Address to a Conference at Mont Pelerin", Hayek mentioned "two men with whom I had most fully discussed the plan for this meeting both have not lived to see its realisation": Henry Simons (who trained Milton Friedman, a future president of the society, at the University of Chicago) and Sir John Clapham, a British economic historian.

The Mont Pelerin Society aimed to "facilitate an exchange of ideas between like-minded scholars in the hope of strengthening the principles and practice of a free society and to study the workings, virtues, and defects of market-oriented economic systems." The Society has continued to meet regularly, the General Meeting every two years and the regional meetings annually. The current president of the Society is Pedro Schwartz Giron. It has close ties to the network of think tanks sponsored in part by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

Influence

Hayek stressed that the society was to be a scholarly community arguing against collectivism, while not engaging in public relations or propaganda. The society has become part of an international think-tank movement; Hayek used it as a forum to encourage members such as Antony Fisher to pursue the think-tank route. Fisher has established the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London during 1955; the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in New York City in 1977; and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in 1981. Now known as the Atlas Network, they support a wide network of think-tanks, including the Fraser Institute.

Prominent MPS members who advanced to policy positions included the late Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of West Germany, President Luigi Einaudi of Italy, Chairman Arthur F. Burns of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, and U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz. Among prominent contemporary political figures, former President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic and acting politicians, such as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe of Sri Lanka, former Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe of the U.K., former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence Antonio Martino, Chilean Finance Minister Carlos Cáceres, and former New Zealand Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, are all MPS members. Of 76 economic advisers on Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign staff, 22 were MPS members.

Several leading journalists, including Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Walter Lippmann, former radical Max Eastman (then roving editor at Reader's Digest), John Chamberlain (former editorial writer for Life magazine), Henry Hazlitt (former financial editor of The New York Times and columnist for Newsweek), and Felix Morley (Pulitzer Prize-winning editor at The Washington Post), have also been members.

Eight MPS members, F. A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Maurice Allais, James M. Buchanan, Ronald Coase, Gary S. Becker and Vernon Smith have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

In the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania), MPS is noted as having the 9th (out of 55) "Best Think Tank Conference".

Criticism from Hans-Hermann Hoppe

In 2006, libertarian/anarcho-capitalist and Austrian School economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe founded the Property and Freedom Society as a reaction against what he perceived to be the Mont Pelerin Society's drift towards "socialism." Hoppe stated that individuals, whom he did not identify, had been "skeptical concerning the Mont Pelerin Society from the beginning" in 1947. He said that Ludwig von Mises had doubted as to whether "a society filled with certified state-interventionists" could pursue libertarian ideals.

Past presidents

Numerous notable economists have served as president of MPS:

F. A. von Hayek – U.K., 1947–61

Wilhelm Röpke – Switzerland, 1961–62

John Jewkes – U.K., 1962–64

Friedrich A. Lutz – Germany, 1964–67

Bruno Leoni – Italy, 1967–68

Günter Schmölders – Germany, 1968–70

Milton Friedman – U.S., 1970–72

Arthur Shenfield – U.K., 1972–74

Gaston Leduc – France, 1974–76

George Stigler – U.S., 1976–78

Manuel Ayau – Guatemala, 1978–80

Chiaki Nishiyama – Japan, 1980–82

Lord Harris of High Cross – U.K., 1982–84

James M. Buchanan – U.S., 1984–86

Herbert Giersch – Germany, 1986–88

Antonio Martino – Italy, 1988–90

Gary Becker – U.S., 1990–92

Max Hartwell – U.K., 1992–94

Pascal Salin – France, 1994–96

Edwin J. Feulner – U.S., 1996–98

Ramón P. Díaz – Uruguay, 1998–2000

Christian Watrin – Germany, 2000–02

Leonard P. Liggio – U.S., 2002–04

Victoria Curzon-Price – Switzerland, 2004–06

Greg Lindsay – Australia, 2006–08

Deepak Lal – United States, 2008–10

Kenneth Minogue – United Kingdom, 2010–12

Allan H. Meltzer – United States, 2012–14

Pedro Schwartz – Spain, 2014–16

Peter Boettke – United States, 2016–present

Notable Participants

Maurice Allais – French physicist and economist

Karl Brandt – German-American agricultural economist

Götz Briefs – German economist

Aaron Director – professor at the University of Chicago Law School

Walter Eucken – German economist, cofounder of Ordoliberalism

Milton Friedman – American economist

Harry Gideonse – Dutch-American economist, President, Brooklyn College

Frank Graham

Friedrich Hayek – Austrian economist

Henry Hazlitt – libertarian journalist

F. A. Harper

Trygve Hoff – Norwegian economist and journalist

John Jewkes – British economist

Bertrand de Jouvenel – French philosopher and political economist

Frank Knight – Chicago school economist

Fritz Machlup – Austrian-American economist

Salvador de Madariaga – Spanish diplomat and writer

Loren Miller – civic reformer and libertarian activist

Ludwig von Mises – Austrian economist

Felix Morley

Michael Polanyi – Hungarian/British chemist, economist and philosopher of science

Karl Popper – Austrian/British philosopher

William Rappard – academic and diplomat

Leonard Read – founder, Foundation for Economic Education

Lionel Robbins – British economist

Wilhelm Röpke – social market economist

George Joseph Stigler – U.S. economist

Herbert Tingsten – Swedish political scientist and journalist

Cicely Wedgwood

Ludwig Erhard – Minister of Economics and Chancellor of postwar West Germany

Board of Directors 2008–10

Deepak Lal – President (USA/UK)

Greg Lindsay – Senior Vice President (Australia)

Eamonn Butler – Vice President (UK)

J.R. Clark – Vice President (USA)

Victoria Curzon-Price – Vice President (Switzerland)

Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard – Vice President (Denmark)

Michael Zoeller – Vice President (Germany)

Carl-Johan Westholm – Secretary (Sweden)

Edwin J. Feulner – Treasurer (USA)

Enrique Ghersi – Director (Peru)

Giancarlo Ibarguen – Director (Guatemala)

Hiromitsu Ishi – Director (Japan)

Suri Ratnapala – Director (Australia)

Veselin Vukotic – Director (Montenegro)

Linda Whetstone – Director (UK)

Other noted members

Armen Alchian

Martin Anderson (economist)

John A. Baden

Danny Julian Boggs

Rhodes Boyson

William L. Breit

Yaron Brook

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Steven N. S. Cheung

Warren Coats

Harold Demsetz

Donald J. Devine

Ross Eckert

John Exter

David D. Friedman

Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson

Otto von Habsburg

Ronald Hamowy

Steven F. Hayward

George Hilton (historian)

Israel Kirzner

Charles G. Koch

Henri Lepage (economist)

Leon Louw

Henry Maksoud

Henry Manne

Paul McCracken (economist)

Ernst-Joachim Mestmäcker

Maurice Newman

John O'Sullivan (columnist)

J. Howard Pew

William H. Peterson

Madsen Pirie

Richard Posner

Enoch Powell

Alvin Rabushka

Richard W. Rahn

Alan Reynolds

Ljubo Sirc

Beryl W. Sprinkel

Gordon Tullock

Leland B. Yeager

Margaret Tse – D.B.A. and Public Policy Researcher (Board of Directors from 2012 to 2016)