Hayek: A Collaborative Biography: Part XII: Liberalism in the Classical Tradition, Austrian versus British

F.A. von Hayek (1899-1992) was a Nobel Prize winning economist, famous for promoting an Austrian version of classical liberalism. The multi-volume Hayek: A Collaborative Biography examines the evolution of his life and influence.

Two concepts of civilization revolve around power – should it be separated or concentrated?  Liberalism in the non-Austrian classical tradition remains fearful of power concentrated in the hands of government, labour unions or corporations; Red Terrorists sought to monopolize power to liquidate enemies and competitors as a prelude to utopia (the ‘withering away of the State’); and behind the ‘slogan of liberty,’ White Terror promoters (Mises and Hayek) sought to concentrate power in the hands of a ‘dictatorial democracy’ where henchmen would liquidate enemies, and – ‘guided’ by ‘utopia’ (the ‘spontaneous’ order) – follow orders from their social superiors. This volume, Part XII, examines the ‘free’ market Use of Knowledge in Society; examines the foundations of ‘free’ market educational credentials; and asks whether those funded by the tobacco industry and the carbon lobby should be accorded ‘independent policy expert’ status.  

Robert Leeson is Visiting Professor of Economics, Stanford University, US.  He is a prolific researcher whose articles have appeared in the world’s leading general journals such as the Economic Journal and Economica.  On a broad measure of publications, he was ranked joint 17th (with Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson) in the list of the world’s top 500 economists on the basis of the number of journal articles included in the ECONLIT database of the American Economic Association. In addition to editing A.W.H. Phillips’ Collected Works in Contemporary Perspective, Leeson co-edited Milton Friedman’s Collected Writings. This is his 25th book.