 IntroductionG. R. Steele Chapter 1 in The Economics of Friedrich Hayek, 2007, pp 1-26 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Hayek received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1974. In a brief speech made at the Laureates’ banquet, Hayek commented that he would not have recommended the creation of such an award. One of his fears — that it ‘would tend to accentuate the swings of scientific fashion’ — had been assuaged by his own award (‘to one whose views are as unfashionable as mine are’) but he was troubled on a second count: ‘[i]t is that the Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess’ (Hayek, cited from Machlup, 1977a, p. xviii). That comment is consistent with Hayek’s view of the multi-volume series of Keynes’s Collected Writings: a distinction ‘for which Newton, Darwin, and the great British philosophers still have to wait’ and more ‘a token of idolatry … than proportionate to his contribution to the advance of scientific knowledge’ (Hayek, 1983, p. 48). The irony is that the first of the multi-volume series of Hayek’s Collected Works appeared four years before Hayek’s death! Yet, although Hayek’s work has achieved that level of veneration about which he had expressed doubts, when the serious press carried his half-page obituaries, few among those who read them had heard of the man. Even among academic economists, the significance of his work remains lost to a majority: [w]hen the definitive history of economic analysis comes to be written, a leading character in the drama … will be Professor Hayek. Hayek’s economic writings … are almost unknown to the modern student; it is hardly remembered that there was a time when the new theories of Hayek were the principal rivals of the new theories of Keynes. Which was right, Keynes or Hayek? (Hicks, 1967b, p. 203) Keywords: Monetary Policy; Business Cycle; Austrian Economic; Austrian School; Market Process (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-80148-6_1 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.