The growth in influence of ‘financialisation,’ and of neoliberal economic theory, has come under increasing criticism from commentators with varying backgrounds. A central criticism is that money itself, rather than the genuinely productive purposes it might serve, has become the overriding goal. Critics point to the excesses of a ‘rentier economy,’ characterised by company mergers and takeovers, exploitation of debt, tax avoidance, weak competition, and poor corporate governance, from which those with higher incomes and greater wealth benefit the most. Many go further, accusing neoliberal economic thinking for its reverence of a greedy, selfish Economic Man, interested only in personal, financial gain, individual freedom, and free choice. Psychology played a part in the 1960s and 1970s, with its limited behaviourist model of human nature. The founding of the Mont Pelerin Society, a transatlantic network of think tanks with wealthy supporters, and strong ties with academics at the University of Chicago and elsewhere, helped create a powerful alliance of interests, a modern ‘plutocracy,’ strong enough to have reshaped the economy’s rules in its favour. The economic conventional wisdom of recent decades has supported economic inequality and stood in the way of reducing it, adding to general confusion about the subject.