Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Von Hayek (1899-1992) was a Nobel Prize winning economist and one of the most prominent members of the Austrian School of Economics, a libertarian economic theory. Hayek emphasized our limited knowledge of the markets (and other subjects), and thus our need for the price mechanism to communicate essential information about supply and demand. His theories are that no centralized planner or government can manage the economy and that the free market is the most efficient known allocator of resources.
Life
Hayek was born in Vienna, which was then the capital of Austria-Hungary. As a teenager he studied biology, philosophy and ethics, before joining the Austrian Army aged 18 and becoming one of the pioneers of airborne artillery observation during World War 1. After the war he earned doctorates in law and political science. He moved to London in 1931 to be a professor at the London School of Economics. When Austria became part of Nazi Germany following the 1938 Anschluss Hayek refused to return there, and became a British subject.
Contributions
His most famous popular book is The Road To Serfdom (1944). Where in he discusses the collapse of essential freedoms in the face of economic manipulation at the hands of well meaning government actors. His most influential work among economists however is his 1935 academic papers "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," on the total inability of socialism to coordinate and allocate resources due to their lack of price signals, an effect that lead to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of these ideas were developed in conjunction with his friend and mentor Ludwig von Mises[1].
Hayek was one of the most vocal and respected contemporary critics of the liberal and now widely discredited economist John Maynard Keynes.
Hayek has been compared to the philosopher David Hume with respect to his insistence that we should be "sensible of our ignorance."
Bibliography
- Birner, Hack, and Rudy van Zijp, eds., Hayek: Co-ordination and Evolution: His legacy in philosophy, politics, economics and the history of ideas (1994)
- Brittan, Samuel "Hayek, Friedrich August (1899–1992)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2006) online
- Caldwell, Bruce, 2005. Hayek's Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F.A. Hayek.
- Doherty, Brian. 2007. Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement
- Ebenstein, Alan O., 2001. Friedrich Hayek: A Biography. excerpt and text search
- Frowen, S. ed., (1997) Hayek: economist and social philosopher
- Gamble, Andrew. (1996) The Iron Cage of Liberty, an analysis of Hayek's ideas
- Gray, John, 1998. Hayek on Liberty.
- Horwitz, Steven. "Friedrich Hayek, Austrian Economist." Journal of the History of Economic Thought 2005 27(1): 71-85. Issn: 1042-7716 Fulltext: in Swetswise, Ingenta and Ebsco
- Kasper, Sherryl, 2002, The Revival of Laissez-Faire in American Macroeconomic Theory: A Case Study of Its Pioneers. Chpt. 4.
- Kley, Roland, 1994. Hayek's Social and Political Thought. Oxford Univ. Press.
- Samuelson, Richard A. "Reaction to the Road to Serfdom." Modern Age 1999 41(4): 309-317. Fulltext online
- Vernon, Richard. "The 'Great Society' and the 'Open Society': Liberalism in Hayek and Popper." Canadian Journal of Political Science 1976 9(2): 261-276. Issn: 0008-4239 Fulltext: in Jstor
Primary sources
- Hayek, Friedrich. Hayek on Hayek: an autobiographical dialogue, ed. S. Kresge and L. Wenar (1994)
- Hayek, Friedrich. The collected works of F. A. Hayek, ed. W. W. Bartley and others (1988–)
