Chapter 6
Friedrich Hayek – the archetypal libertarian
‘The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.’
F.A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit, 1988
It was an intellectual battle that has reverberated through economics, politics and philosophy – and even rap music – right through to the present day. Even as Keynes was busy in Cambridge formulating his General Theory, his ideas were being challenged by an Austrian economist who had moved to London, would later take British citizenship and ultimately earn the Nobel Prize for his thinking that ran wholly contrary to that of his adversary.
The philosophy Hayek set out sought to repudiate the principles not just of Keynesianism ...
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