“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 16 – Conclusion The point of the book wasn’t to be a guide for a desirable future order of society. If it did so in the chapter on international affairs, it’s because that is necessary for the rest to happen. It’sContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 15 – The Prospects of International Order The world was paid the most for the abandonment of liberalism in the field of international relations. We’re starting to see that economic planning has an aggregate harmful effect in producing international friction. There’sContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 14 – Material Conditions & Ideal Ends Our generation attaches less weight to economic matters than previous ones. The “End of Economic Man” is becoming one of the governing myths of our time. Before accepting that phrase, let’s examine it. WhenContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 13 – The Totalitarians in Our Midst The magnitude of the terrible things done by totalitarian governments makes it more assured it can’t happen here. When we look at Nazi Germany, it seems very different & that makes us think thatContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 12 – The Socialist Roots of Nazism It’s a mistake to see Nazism as just a revolt against reason & a movement without intellectual background. Its doctrines are the culmination of a long evolution of thought from beyond the confines ofContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 11 – The End of Truth The most effective way to make everyone serve the single system is to make everyone believe in the same ends. To make a totalitarian system function efficiently, you can’t just make everyone work for theContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 10 – Why the Worst Get on Top Some people believe that the worst parts of totalitarian regimes are due to the fact that it was only by accident that they were established by groups of criminals & thugs. Why shouldn’tContinue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 9 – Security & Freedom “Economic Security” is often represented as a necessary condition of real liberty. Independence of mind is rarely found in those with no confidence of being able to survive on their own. But the term “economic security”Continue Reading
“The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 8 – Who, Whom? A common complaint about competition is that it’s blind, even though justice has historically been portrayed as blind. It’s important that we not know who will succeed either through luck or skill & not based on someone’sContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 7 – Economic Control & Totalitarianism Most planners don’t doubt a planned economy must be run as a dictatorship. A complex system of interrelated activities must be a single staff of experts & ultimate power must be in the hands ofContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 6 – Planning & the Rule of Law The Rule of Law is what distinguishes conditions of a free country & one with an arbitrary government. Definition – government is bound by pre-announced fixed rules. It makes it possible to foreseeContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 5 – Planning & Democracy A common feature of collectivist systems is the deliberate organization of society’s labors for a common social goal. Socialists complain that our present society lacks “conscious direction” towards one goal & that our activities are guidedContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 4 – The “Inevitability” of Planning Few central planners even claim that planning is desirable. Most of them just say we’re forced to do it due to technological changes that can’t be reversed or prevented. The argument has little explanation behindContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 3 – Individualism & Collectivism Socialism is used to describe ideals of social justice, greater equality, & security. It also means the method socialists wish to achieve those. Their methods are the abolition of private enterprise, private ownership of the meansContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek, Chapter 2 – The Great Utopia Just because most progressives are for Socialism over Liberalism doesn’t mean people have forgotten what liberal thinkers have said about Collectivism. They just don’t agree with them. Socialism was recognized early on as a threat toContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek Chapter 1 – The Abandoned Road When things go wrong we look to blame others & not ourselves. We’re sure we did our best. We put our best people on the job. Our hearts were in the right place. So, if theContinue Reading
The Road to Serfdom (1944) – F.A. Hayek Introduction We can learn from the past to avoid a repetition of the same process. Accidental combination of experience & interest often reveals events to one man. Moving from one country to another, one may sometimes watch similar phrases of intellectual developmentContinue Reading
Friedrich Hayek – The Use of Knowledge in Society. The American Economic Review, Vol. 35, Issue 4 (September 1945), 519-530. NOTES: Using rational economic order has a problem: We use all relevant info We use a coherent system of preferences We use complete knowledge of relevant means Problem becomes justContinue Reading