Of all the enemies of democracy and freedom, Friedrich August von Hayek was probably the smartest. At least, he was the most influential: the structures of today’s global economy — the European Economic and Monetary Union, central banks, “balanced budget amendments” to national constitutions, and “free” trade agreements guaranteeing capital’s future profits — are essentially based on his ideas and those of his students.

Margaret Thatcher is said to have once pulled Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty out of her bag during a Conservative policy meeting and proclaimed: “This is what we believe in!” Even after fifty years of neoliberal devastation, there are still true believers. One is Javier Milei. When the son of an upwardly mobile capital entrepreneur was elected Argentina’s president in December, the Berlin-based Hayek Society awarded him its greatest prize: the Hayek Medal. The society, which has come under fire for its closeness to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, hailed Milei’s “clear view of the power of a market economy” able to “once again lay the foundations for freedom, prosperity and social peace,” in the tradition of “Ludwig Erhard, Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher.”