The 20th Anniversary of Hayek’s Death

By On March 23, 2012 · 5 Comments · In Economics, Libertarianism

Today we pause to note the 20th anniversary of the death of F. A. Hayek, perhaps the most important social thinker of the 20th century and a man whose ideas still remain ahead of their time and distorted and misunderstood by the supposed intellectual elite.  There are so many great Hayek quotes one could deploy on this occasion, but I think I will go with this one from “Why I’m Not a Conservative”:

“[Classical liberalism] has never been a backward-looking doctrine.  There has never been a time when liberal ideals were fully realized and when liberalism did not look forward to further improvement of institutions.  Liberalism is not averse to evolution and change;  and where spontaneous change has been smothered by government control, it wants a great deal of change of policy.  So far as much of current governmental action is concerned, there is in the present world very little reason for the liberal to wish to preserve things as they are.”

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  • 3cantuna

    Mises trumps Hayek by far. The 1920 essay on economic calculation is the most important work in social sciences of the 20th century. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bear-Nichols/9626357 Bear Nichols

       I don’t know.  This is kind of like comparing MJ and Kareem.  They were both great, but played different positions.  We shouldn’t discount Hayek’s work on the knowledge problem, also one of the most important works in the 20th Cent.

      • 3cantuna

        I read ya. I was definitely doing some light trolling.  Yet, concerning the knowledge problem, even here Mises is clearer and more resolute– recognizing the necessity of private property– a known necessity. Further, Mises was a better historian– realizing prices as past phenomena that do not neessarily signal anything about the future….

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Berkowicz/100001206459875 Adam Berkowicz

      I believe Steve said “One of the most important social thinkers”. I think Mises provided some important economic insights, but his impact isn’t as widespread as Hayek.

      • 3cantuna

        Reverse engineering Hayek’s v. Mises’ impact falls in Mises’ favor because Hayek was found to be so acceptable in modern liberal circles– from the Mont Pelerin Society (technocrats etc), to the Nobel Committee (at the height of Swedish socialism), and the Thatcher/Reagan (Helmut Kohl, too?) governments.  None of these entities were truly free market oriented like Mises.