Monday, June 28, 2010

Russ Roberts nice introduction to F.A. Hayek

here:
He championed four important ideas worth thinking about in these troubled times. First, he and fellow Austrian School economists such as Ludwig Von Mises argued that the economy is more complicated than the simple Keynesian story. ... Second, Hayek highlighted the Fed's role in the business cycle. ... Third, as Hayek contended in "The Road to Serfdom," political freedom and economic freedom are inextricably intertwined. In a centrally planned economy, the state inevitably infringes on what we do, what we enjoy, and where we live. ... The fourth timely idea of Hayek's is that order can emerge not just from the top down but from the bottom up. ... Despite the caricatures of his critics, Hayek never said that totalitarianism was the inevitable result of expanding government's role in the economy. He simply warned us of the possibility and the costs of heading in that direction. We should heed his warning. I don't know if we're on the road to serfdom, but wherever we're headed, Hayek would certainly counsel us to turn around.

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