Notes on Hayek
Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom presents an argument for market liberalism that is worth taking seriously. First he argues that socialism requires central planning of the economy. Second he argues that central planning is bad . This is for two reasons. First, the economy will be much less efficient than a market system at production and allocation— people will not be as materially well off . Second, he says a central planning regime will necessarily be autocratic . And by this he means three things First, central planning CP is incompatible with democracy Second, CP is incompatible with individual freedoms Third, CP is incompatible with rule of law For these reasons, he thinks market systems are superior and the only way to have a high standard of living and the kind of freedom he cares about. Here's a breakdown of each part of the argument and some counter-arguments from my class. First of all, let’s look at some counter-arguments to the preliminar...
