Duke economics professor Bruce Caldwell, one of the world’s foremost Hayek scholars, offers 10 Hayekian insights into our economic trouble in this Heritage paper.
It isn’t short, but is most worthwhile.
Many decades ago, Hayek, Mises, and other economists of the Austrian school demonstrated that the modern “mixed economy” (that is, one with nominal private ownership but widespread government intervention) was unstable due to governmental tampering with the spontaneous order of production and exchange. They foresaw that regulation would lead to all manner of problems, which politicians would try to fix with yet more regulation. Alas, few people listened. Most people liked the notion that government officials could and would make everything better if only we’d give them enough power, so Hayek et al were attacked as being against progress and against “the little guy.”
Millions of “little guys” would be much better off today if people had listened to Hayek back in the 30s and 40s.
