ABSTRACT
From its very earliest publications in the late 1950s, authors at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) sought to problematize methods for governing the economy that did not, as far as they were concerned, maximize the potential for the free expression of consumers in the marketplace. Its goal was to achieve for liberalism what it was believed the Fabian society had achieved for the welfare state; only now, these Fabian goals were to be the target of criticism. The IEA was thus founded in a world in which the practices of government were shaped by social concerns. Certain techniques for governing the economy, such as Keynesian demand management, planning and income controls, formed part of an assemblage of governmental practices that required the state to ensure economic security and with it a functioning social order.
