IN OUR PRESENT WORLD OF slogans, slurs and sound bites, few names have had more resonance than that of the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. To those in Britain on the political left, Hayek has become shorthand for the evils of market fundamentalism and rational economic man.
To those on the right, Hayek’s name is forever associated with the moment in 1975, soon after he won a Nobel Prize for Economics, when Mrs Thatcher on a visit to the Conservative Research Department slammed down a copy of his Constitution of Liberty on the table, with the words “This is what we believe”.
Rarely, however, have these opposing views been informed by much actual knowledge of Hayek’s thought. As a result, myths have abounded: that Hayek was the high priest of laissez-faire,…
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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2023