Between Business and Academia in Postwar Britain

Abstract

This chapter examines the attitudes of three neoliberal business economists about the welfare state in postwar Britain. The three—John Jewkes, Arthur Shenfield, and Barry Bracewell-Milnes—had some degree of economic literacy, and each was active in neoliberal circles and critical of Britain’s welfare state in the 1960s along typical neoliberal lines. Significantly, all three provided economic advice at the heart of the British business community. This illustrates three main points. First, neoliberals were not as isolated before the 1970s as commonly presented and had good links with parts of the business community. Second, the focus on the intellectuals in the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) distorts our understanding of the organization and the dissemination of its ideas. Third, we need to be aware of the growing number of business economists in Britain and other advanced economies after World War II and the role that they played.