Austrian Economics in One Lesson: Henry Hazlitt and the American Origins of Neoliberal Populism

What are the roots of pro-market populism? Intellectual histories of neoliberalism have predominantly focused on leading theorists and policymakers, neglecting how market economics were made “palatable” for mass audiences. This article argues that in order to understand the complex historical relationship between neoliberal ideology and resurgent populism, it is necessary to examine the work of popular writers close to the neoliberal movement, who have so far received scant scholarly attention. By tracing the career of the American autodidact journalist Henry Hazlitt and his exchange with Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, the article demonstrates that a populist understanding of social change via economic education was an inherent part of the translation of neoliberal ideas for US political culture in the 1930s and 1940s. Focusing on book reviews for the New York Times and the handbook Economics in One Lesson , the article identifies Hazlitt as an overlooked mediator between European neoliberalism and American libertarianism, outside traditional academic trajectories.