After visiting the Soviet Union in 1932 on a visit sponsored by France's Ministry of Education, Rougier became convinced that planned economies do not work as well as market economies. This conviction led him to participate in the organization of the first neoliberal organization of the twentieth century, the "Colloque Walter Lippmann", in 1938. During the same year, Rougier helped to found the "Centre international d'études pour la rénovation du libéralisme". The political network established by these two groups eventually led to the 1947 foundation of the famous Mont Pelerin Society, to which Rougier was elected in the 1960s through the personal backing of Friedrich von Hayek.