The Quotable Hayek

[maradydd]

I feel like the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek gets a bad rap from today's liberals and progressives, mainly because his support of free markets (particularly free global markets) made him the darling of Republicans from the beginning and especially the Reagan administration. I recently re-read his essay "Why I am Not A Conservative", which

Comments

[jordan179]

Remember that Hayek was speaking about classical or at most mildly progressive liberals when he spoke of "liberals," and of very reactionary (in fact at least mildly anti-democratic) "conservatives." He wasn't talking about modern welfare-state "liberals" or libertarian-inclined "conservatives."

[steer]

liberty and evidence-based reasoning

I don't see the evidence of his evidence-based reasoning. Hayek's work almost never goes to the data surely? He can write 100 pages without so much as an equation much less a fit to data. To me that looks more like arguing than actual economics.

[safewrite]

Yeah, I'd say he's a Libertarian.

[whswhs]

My favorite Hayek is actually a quite different piece: his essay "The Result of Human Action but Not of Human Design," which totally reshaped my view of human societies. I also like his ideas about the importance of local knowledge in making decisions.

[neoliminal]

I'll have to revisit his works.

Thanks for sharing these quotes.