Essential Hayek

A very interesting and useful new set of resources, from Don Boudreaux and the Fraser Institute.

The Essential Hayek.
(Doesn't come live until tomorrow...)

From the book, the Table of Contents:

Foreword, by Václav Klaus / 1
Introduction / 7
Selected Hayek passages explained
1. How we make sense of an incredibly complex world / 12
2. Knowledge and prices / 17
3. Individual flourishing and spontaneous order / 24
4. The rule of law, freedom, and prosperity / 28
5. Legislation is distinct from law / 32
6. False economic security and the road to serfdom / 39
7. Economic booms and busts / 46
8. The curse of inflation / 56
9. The challenge of living successfully in modern society / 62
10. Ideas have consequences / 71
Suggestions for further reading / 77

I'll be using it in class!

Bertrand Russell on Hayek (Sort of)

(Okay, not exactly ON Hayek, but it is rather Hayekian.  The timing doesn't work out very well, since this was published in 1912.  But who knew that B. Russell was a proto-Austrian?)

From Proposed Roads to Freedom (1918): "We come next to the consideration of the economic power of the State and the influence which it can exert through its bureaucracy. State Socialists argue as if there would be no danger to liberty in a State not based upon capitalism. This seems to me an entire delusion. Given an official caste, however selected, there are bound to be a set of men whose whole instincts will drive them toward tyranny. 

Together with the natural love of power, they will have a rooted conviction (visible now in the higher ranks of the Civil Service) that they alone know how to be able to judge what is good for the community. Like all men who administer a system, they will come to feel the system itself is sacrosanct. The only changes they will desire will be changes in the direction of further regulations as to how the people are to enjoy the good things kindly granted to them by their benevolent despots. 

Whoever thinks this picture overdrawn must have failed to study the influence and methods of Civil Servants at present. On every matter that arises, they know far more than the general public about all the definite facts involved; the one thing they do not know is "where the shoe pinches." 

Very cool.  Sent by the optimally skeptical Zach Weinersmith...  (Good one from Zach yesterday, btw)

Hayek Caused Hitler

Wow. Robert Sidelsky is clearly a zealot, someone who puts worship ahead of logical argument. But that's okay. There are plenty of folks I admire who do that also.

Sidelsky has perhaps overstepped, however. It turns out that Hayek's economic policies brought Hitler to powerin Germany. If only the D-Bank had been Keynesian, and had inflated the money supply, and wasted a bunch of money on make-work projects, the Nazis would never have had a chance.

Who knew?

The surprising thing for me is that I would have said that inflating the hell out of the money supply and spending a bunch of money on crony projects was EXACTLY what Weimar did. Thank goodness B-Sid is here to set me straight.

Note that I am not making the Godwin's Law objection. Sidelsky is not making a gratuitous comparison to Hitler. He literally means that Hayekian economic policies are directly responsible for the rise of the Nazis.

(Nod to Herr F, who is helpful)

Most Excellent

What a tremendous premise! Axel Leijonhufvud interviews Friedrich Hayek. The incomprehensible takes on the increasingly obscure. Who wins? Judge for yourself.

Best part was where FAH insisted that Axel call him "Slash." (Okay, that didn't really happen). (But it would have been cool.)

I Heart FA Hayek

Gotta be tough for the young lady. Hayek is long dead, and she can't use ...well, let's call them battery-powered products. 'Cause no true Hayek-lover would accept artificial stimulus.

(Nod to Angry Alex)

Russ Robert on FvH

Russ comes up big with the Hayek piece in WSJ. Do read it.

What's in a name?

The social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

--wikipedia

The dismal science

--Thomas Carlyle

The mechanics of utility and self interest.

--W.S. Jevons

A study of mankind in the ordinary business of life

--Alfred Marshall

Economics is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.

--Lionel Robbins


The study of how the forces of supply and demand allocate scarce resources

--investorwords.com


The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

--F.A. Hayek