Friedrich von Hayek
Hi everyone, my name is Friedrich von Hayek, one of the greatest economists during the twentieth century, that’s how people praised me. I was born on 8th May 1889 in Austria. I am the son of August von Hayek, my father who devoted his life as a renowned botanist and a noted physician and Felicitas, my mother. In 1974,I shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Gunnar Myrdal.
I joined the Artillery regiment in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the 1971s. I know that it’s one of the boys’ responsibilities to the country, but it has always been an ordeal for me. My left ear lost its hearing during the war. Being part of the Army has given me a lesson about the mistakes that had led the War happen and it’s an influence for me to continue my studying. And, I considered myself lucky as I came back alive from the War. Therefore, I decided to pursue my academic goal.
Academics and Inspirations
During my university years, I took the study of philosophy, psychology, and economics. Everybody thinks that I wasted way too much time in studying and I was a little bit crazy but the truth is that my interest is unlimited and no one can stop me. Anyway, I ended up earning my first doctorate degree in Law and Political Science in 1921 from the University of Vienna. Later that year, I got the chance to read “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” written by Wittgenstein. I bet no one ever known that I’m a Ludwig Wittgenstein’s cousin. I would say that I was one of the few lucky people who got the same chance as me and I was really impressed by his wonderful writing, and this beautiful piece of writing actually influenced me to continue my future career. I was once again influenced by the philosophies of Ludwig von Mises, who was an important member of the Austrian School of Economics and wrote the book called ‘Socialism’ (1922).
Right after I finish reading the book, I started to attend some of Ludwig von Mises’s seminars. My first job was being an expert for the Austrian government, working on the legal and economic details of the Treaty of Saint Germain.
Marriage
In 1929, I married to Helen Berta Maria von Fritsch and we have two kids. Unfortunately, our marriage life wasn’t beautiful as what we wanted it to be. We finally decided to end our relationship in 1950. Not long after the divorce, I married a new woman named Helene Bitterlich.
Publications
For all my life, I have been written quiet a few books, but unfortunately, most of my works seem to be neglected at first, what a sad life! My first piece of writing is “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle” in 1929, but the book that brought success and attention back to me is “The Road to Serfdom” which I spent a lot of time writing this master piece, it took me about 3 years (from 1940-1943) to make it ready to be published in 1944. The French Classical Liberal thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville’s writing on the “road to servitude” inspired me. The book is mainly about the government role toward the economy. I believe that the government can play a role in economy through the monetary system, work hours regulation, institutions for the flow of proper information, and many other ways.
Although there was some economist came out and criticized the Road to Freedom (one of them is Walter Block), the popularity of the book didn’t go down. From Block’s critical review, it seemed that he didn’t like my work so much that he said I put too much of my own perspective but I don’t think so because all of the contents is from my own opinion and if someone doesn’t like it, just don’t read it. However, this book advocates to my principles and theory, classical liberalism and individualism.
Influence on field of economics
Classical Liberalism :
I’m the economist best known for my theory of classical liberalism. If you do not know how this theory works, I’m about to explain it to you. The classical liberalism is the composing of political liberalism and economic liberalism. It is about individuals’ rights. This classical liberalism has actually existed since the presence of Adam Smith (I used to read some of his works), Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. People usually say that I’m the rebirth maker of classical liberalism in the twentieth century with Milton Friedman.
I classified the classical liberalism into two different traditions, the British tradition and the French tradition because different places have different beliefs, common laws, etc.
Free Market:
I believe that the planners of the central could not work to give the economic data and allocate resources efficiently because the data has never existed and will never be existed. For me, the free market means :
”that it gives the maximum latitude for people to use information that only they have. In short, the market process generates the data. Without markets, data are almost nonexistent.” [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Hayek.html]
I joined the Artillery regiment in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the 1971s. I know that it’s one of the boys’ responsibilities to the country, but it has always been an ordeal for me. My left ear lost its hearing during the war. Being part of the Army has given me a lesson about the mistakes that had led the War happen and it’s an influence for me to continue my studying. And, I considered myself lucky as I came back alive from the War. Therefore, I decided to pursue my academic goal.
Academics and Inspirations
During my university years, I took the study of philosophy, psychology, and economics. Everybody thinks that I wasted way too much time in studying and I was a little bit crazy but the truth is that my interest is unlimited and no one can stop me. Anyway, I ended up earning my first doctorate degree in Law and Political Science in 1921 from the University of Vienna. Later that year, I got the chance to read “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” written by Wittgenstein. I bet no one ever known that I’m a Ludwig Wittgenstein’s cousin. I would say that I was one of the few lucky people who got the same chance as me and I was really impressed by his wonderful writing, and this beautiful piece of writing actually influenced me to continue my future career. I was once again influenced by the philosophies of Ludwig von Mises, who was an important member of the Austrian School of Economics and wrote the book called ‘Socialism’ (1922).
Right after I finish reading the book, I started to attend some of Ludwig von Mises’s seminars. My first job was being an expert for the Austrian government, working on the legal and economic details of the Treaty of Saint Germain.
Marriage
In 1929, I married to Helen Berta Maria von Fritsch and we have two kids. Unfortunately, our marriage life wasn’t beautiful as what we wanted it to be. We finally decided to end our relationship in 1950. Not long after the divorce, I married a new woman named Helene Bitterlich.
Publications
For all my life, I have been written quiet a few books, but unfortunately, most of my works seem to be neglected at first, what a sad life! My first piece of writing is “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle” in 1929, but the book that brought success and attention back to me is “The Road to Serfdom” which I spent a lot of time writing this master piece, it took me about 3 years (from 1940-1943) to make it ready to be published in 1944. The French Classical Liberal thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville’s writing on the “road to servitude” inspired me. The book is mainly about the government role toward the economy. I believe that the government can play a role in economy through the monetary system, work hours regulation, institutions for the flow of proper information, and many other ways.
Although there was some economist came out and criticized the Road to Freedom (one of them is Walter Block), the popularity of the book didn’t go down. From Block’s critical review, it seemed that he didn’t like my work so much that he said I put too much of my own perspective but I don’t think so because all of the contents is from my own opinion and if someone doesn’t like it, just don’t read it. However, this book advocates to my principles and theory, classical liberalism and individualism.
Influence on field of economics
Classical Liberalism :
I’m the economist best known for my theory of classical liberalism. If you do not know how this theory works, I’m about to explain it to you. The classical liberalism is the composing of political liberalism and economic liberalism. It is about individuals’ rights. This classical liberalism has actually existed since the presence of Adam Smith (I used to read some of his works), Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. People usually say that I’m the rebirth maker of classical liberalism in the twentieth century with Milton Friedman.
I classified the classical liberalism into two different traditions, the British tradition and the French tradition because different places have different beliefs, common laws, etc.
Free Market:
I believe that the planners of the central could not work to give the economic data and allocate resources efficiently because the data has never existed and will never be existed. For me, the free market means :
”that it gives the maximum latitude for people to use information that only they have. In short, the market process generates the data. Without markets, data are almost nonexistent.” [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Hayek.html]
Free markets and evolution
What is classical liberalism?
Comments:
Your argument is invalid- John M. Keynes
Dear Friedrich Von Hayek
Do you really believe that simply allowing the market to do as they please is a good idea??? People aren't a set of numbers but are in fact people with animalistic instincts and do not always react rationally. This can be seen during the housing market crash of 2008 which proves that the market does not always act rationally. If the market were rational the prices for housing should have continued to rise as they have for many years but the sudden collapse of prices disproves this idea of market rationality. As people are not always rational an economy cannot simply come out of a recession by itself and it needs the government to correct the market failure! During the great depression there was no sign of the market improving and only government spending had saved it!
Your enemy John M. Keynes
Do you really believe that simply allowing the market to do as they please is a good idea??? People aren't a set of numbers but are in fact people with animalistic instincts and do not always react rationally. This can be seen during the housing market crash of 2008 which proves that the market does not always act rationally. If the market were rational the prices for housing should have continued to rise as they have for many years but the sudden collapse of prices disproves this idea of market rationality. As people are not always rational an economy cannot simply come out of a recession by itself and it needs the government to correct the market failure! During the great depression there was no sign of the market improving and only government spending had saved it!
Your enemy John M. Keynes
Dear Enemy,
The economy alone has a way to stabilize itself. It's not necessary for the government to being part of the economic because that way it would even make the market flow less efficiently. The government should not get involved in any economy, the market should totally be free from the government because entrepreneur can make more choice and they are more free to produce the goods which are greatly demanded by the buyers and can make a lot of profit! At the same time, the customers will also be more satisfied by the offering from the producers. Hence, there's no such a market failure existing in free market!
your Enemy, F.A. Hayek
The economy alone has a way to stabilize itself. It's not necessary for the government to being part of the economic because that way it would even make the market flow less efficiently. The government should not get involved in any economy, the market should totally be free from the government because entrepreneur can make more choice and they are more free to produce the goods which are greatly demanded by the buyers and can make a lot of profit! At the same time, the customers will also be more satisfied by the offering from the producers. Hence, there's no such a market failure existing in free market!
your Enemy, F.A. Hayek