Neo-liberalism has been one of the most influential ideologies since the Second World War. This book provides an original account of its intellectual foundations, development and conceptual configuration as an ideology.Newly available in paperback, this book presents a comparative study of the development and the nature of neo-liberal ideas in the national contexts of Germany, Britain and the United States since the twentieth century, addressing the following questions: * What are neo-liberalism's intellectual origins? * What influence did neo-liberalism have on public policy debates? * What are neo-liberalism's core concepts and how have they been interpreted in different national contexts that make it a distinctive ideology? In answering these questions, the book provides a deeper insight into the historical and intellectual origins and conceptual configuration of an ideology that reshaped politics and societies across the world.