The Real Summit

When I was the age of my youngest child, a small band of prophets gathered in the Swiss village of Mont Pelerin. There they conspired to keep alight the torch of liberty, and to pass it to another generation. Any such collective of individualists necessarily faces some difficulties. But today the Mont Pelerin Society numbers over 300 members in 33 countries, mostly economists, and is compelled to ration entry to avoid holding meetings in Madison Square Garden. This year, the conference was held in Brussels. The next meeting, a regional one, will be at Hillsdale College, Michigan. And the 1976 general meeting will celebrate the Bicentennial—-of the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, of course—at St. Andrews, Scotland. To maintain this cartel among advocates of competition, there will be a classic tie-in sale: those attending the 1976 meeting must purchase a necktie with the profile of Adam Smith.

At the first Mont Pelerin conference, in 1947, a key inspiration must surely have been the success of Friedrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. When I first read it, a generation later, I underlined only the most magnificent passages. Not more than a hundred sentences were left unscored. Without that book, I might still be an auto mechanic—and more affluent, but less content.

About the Author

Alan Reynolds

Alan Reynolds, National Review’s economics editor from 1972 to 1976, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author of Income and Wealth.

Featured Tags

When I was the age of my youngest child, a small band of prophets gathered in the Swiss village of Mont Pelerin. There they conspired to keep alight the torch of liberty, and to pass it to another generation. Any such collective of individualists necessarily faces some difficulties. But today the Mont Pelerin Society numbers over 300 members in 33 countries, mostly economists, and is compelled to ration entry to avoid holding meetings in Madison Square Garden. This year, the conference was held in Brussels. The next meeting, a regional one, will be at Hillsdale College, Michigan. And the 1976 general meeting will celebrate the Bicentennial—-of the publication of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, of course—at St. Andrews, Scotland. To maintain this cartel among advocates of competition, there will be a classic tie-in sale: those attending the 1976 meeting must purchase a necktie with the profile of Adam Smith.

At the first Mont Pelerin conference, in 1947, a key inspiration must surely have been the success of Friedrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. When I first read it, a generation later, I underlined only the most magnificent passages. Not more than a hundred sentences were left unscored. Without that book, I might still be an auto mechanic—and more affluent, but less content.