Abstract
The work of Hayek, in contrast with the Marxist-Socialist-Interventionist-Galbraithian paradigm that held sway in the mid-twentieth century, appears as a beacon for free enterprise amid a sea of totalitarianism. When considered in comparison to the writings against which he contended, Hayek’s was a lonely voice, crying in the wilderness for freedom; he stood, like the Dutch boy, with his finger in the dike of onrushing statism. But if one weighs his output against that of free enterprise advocates who came later, or, better yet, against an ideal of laissez-faire capitalism, then one must categorize Hayek as lukewarm, at best, in his support of this system. This is a rather surprising thesis, even a paradoxical one, in view of the fact that 1994 was the 50th anniversary of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, a book widely (and accurately!) credited with turning away from socialism the political thinking of an entire generation. It is therefore incumbent upon an author, such as myself, who makes such a claim, to offer evidence in support of it. Let us consider the record.
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- 1.
This may be a bit too strong, since there were other voices, alongside that of Hayek, who championed much the same philosophy, and did it more consistently. Preeminent among these must of course be Mises. For a study of the American “Old Right” tradition, see Justin Raimondo, Reclaiming the American Right (Burlingame, Calif.: Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993).
- 2.
Cf. Murray N. Rothbard, “Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution,” Cato Journal 2, no. 1 (Spring 1982), reprinted in Walter Block, ed., Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation (Vancouver: Fraser Institute, 1990); Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism: Economics, Politics and Ethics (Boston: Kluwer, 1989); Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy (Boston: Kluwer, 1993).
- 3.
John Gray, “F.A. Hayek on Liberty and Tradition,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 4, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 119–37; Arthur M. Diamond, “F.A. Hayek on Constructivism and Ethics,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 4, no. 4 (Fall 1980): 353–66; Roger Arnold, “Hayek and Institutional Evolution,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 4, no. 4 (Fall 1980): 341–52.
- 4.
Friedrich A. Hayek, The Road To Serfdom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944).
- 5.
Perhaps, though, the fact that Keynes lavishly praised this book should have given us pause for thought. See Diamond, “F.A. Hayek on Constructivism and Ethics,” p. 353.
- 6.
I write this with not a few misgivings. Hayek was always exceedingly kind to me, both personally and in writing; for example, see his forward to Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable (New York: Fox and Wilkes, [1976] 1991). In criticizing him now, part of me feels as if I am “biting the hand that fed me.” The reason I finally decided to take pen to hand on this topic is that I feel I owe Hayek my best thoughts; it would seem a dishonesty, and a renunciation of the scholarship for which he stood all of his life, to “pull punches” out of considerations of friendship. We all, that is, the best of us, encourage our students to be critical about our own viewpoints, Hayek no less than anyone else. It is in this spirit, then, that I take up the arduous task of criticism. For a contrasting view of Hayek, see Peter J. Boettke, “Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom Revisited: Government Failure in the Argument Against Socialism,” Eastern Economic Journal 21, No. 1 (Winter 1995): 7–26; and also Peter J. Boettke, “The Theory of Spontaneous Order and Cultural Evolution in the Social Theory of F. A. Hayek,” Cultural Dynamics 3, np. 1 (1990): 61–83.
- 7.
Cf. Murray N. Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press 1982); Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism; Hoppe, Economics and Ethics; Anthony de Jasay, The State (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985).
- 8.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 17.
- 9.
We consider below, and reject, the hard-and-fast principle adumbrated in Friedrich A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1960), pp. 397–411.
- 10.
Take, for example, his reiteration (The Road to Serfdom, pp. 3, 5, 8) that it is “largely people of good will” who are responsible for the slide into socialism in North America and Western Europe. As a rhetorical device, this is unexceptionable. How better to convince a largely hostile audience of the error of their ways than by first complimenting them? But a strong case can be made for the very opposite contention. Cf. Helmut Schoeck, Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior (New York: Harcourt Brace & World, 1966); and Walter Block, “Socialist Psychology: Values and Motivations,” Cultural Dynamics 5, no. 3 (1992): 260–86.
- 11.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 18.
- 12.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 18.
- 13.
Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz, A Monetary History of the U.S., 1867–1960 (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963); Murray N. Rothbard, America’s Great Depression (Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1975).
- 14.
Ludwig von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit (New York: The Foundation for Economic Education, [1912] 1971).
- 15.
Friedrich A. Hayek, Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle (New York: Kelley, [1933] 1966); Friedrich A. Hayek, Prices and Production (London: Routledge, 1931).
- 16.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 37.
- 17.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 37.
- 18.
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, p. 120.
- 19.
See Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy from 1950 to 1980 (New York: Basic Books, 1984).
- 20.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order (Chicago: Regnery, 1972), p. 110.
- 21.
Hayek (1972), p. 111.
- 22.
Hayek (1972), pp. 110–11.
- 23.
Hayek, Hayek on Hayek, p. 115.
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Block, W.E. (2019). Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. In: Property Rights. Palgrave Studies in Classical Liberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28353-7_4
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