Based on new archival sources, Freedom for Capital, Not People tells the story of how the Mont P lerin Society transformed the world economy. Founded in 1947 by economist Friedrich von Hayek, by the turn of the 1970s the society commanded influence at the highest levels of international monetary policy - with debates sparked by Hayek, Milton Friedman and Ludwig von Mises emigrating from the seminar room to the halls of power. The group's collective agenda, the result of years of fierce argument and shrewd political strategising, would dominate the next half century of global capitalism.

Matthias Schmelzer is an economic historian and social theorist based in Berlin. He is the author of the award-winning The Hegemony of Growth: The OECD and the Making of the Growth Paradigm and co-author of The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism.