Hayek on welfare state

Mihaela Ifrim

Chapter 4 in Hayek’s Living Legacy in Economics, Philosophy and Policy, 2026, pp 56-65 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The welfare state and the demand for an increasingly active role for governments in shaping the lives of individuals in ever greater detail is intertwined with an ever-expanding supply of public goods and services and regulation. In the name of securing an alleged ‘social justice’ and creating a meaningless ‘value to society,’ the welfare state mirage is nothing more than a sum of interventions which, under the guise of good intentions and noble goals, represent a serious threat to individual freedom. The aim of this chapter is to identify the Hayekian position towards the welfare state, following his main arguments on the role of governments in providing public goods, the relationship between the welfare state and social justice, the limits of government intervention in the framework of imperfect knowledge, the antagonism between the welfare state and individual freedom, and the danger of moving forward on the road to socialism.

Keywords: Welfare State; Government Intervention; Public Goods; Social Justice; Individual Freedom; Limits of Knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035394234
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