Libéralisme, socialisme et État providence. La théorie hayékienne de l'évolution culturelle est-elle cohérente ?

Régis Servant

Revue économique, 2014, vol. 65, issue 2, 373-390

Abstract: For some commentators, since Hayek extols the virtues of cultural evolution, he should regard all its manifestations as efficient, even if they are not liberal. We show that this view is wrong and that Hayek?s opposition to socialist planning and Welfare State is not inconsistent with his theory of cultural evolution. On the one hand, this theory describes the putative historical origins of our current civilization and concludes that, once they have adopted free market economy, human societies must preserve this liberal ethics. That is so because, according to Hayek, returning to a centralized organization would cause the impoverishment, or the death, of a significant part of the population. On the other hand, we show that cultural evolution, in Hayek?s work, also refers to a normative ideal : evolution itself must be liberal. Hayek logically rejects socialist planning and Welfare State that, according to him, hinder the development of civilizations. Classification JEL : B25 ; B53 ; K0 ; P5.

JEL-codes: P5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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