What Friedrich Hayek thinks about government
Austrian-British economist and political philosopher (1899 to 1992) who shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and argued that central economic planning destroys political freedom.
Everything they publish, on ppll ↗
Friedrich Hayek did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
14 dated positions, c. 1944, in their own words. Our reading of what Friedrich Hayek has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsWe can rely on voluntary agreement to guide the action of the state only so long as it is confined to spheres where agreement exists.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIt is important not to confuse opposition against this kind of planning with a dogmatic laissez-faire attitude.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIt is the price of democracy that the possibilities of conscious control are restricted to the fields where true agreement exists, and that in some fields things must be left to chance.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsOur point, however, is not that dictatorship must inevitably extirpate freedom, but rather that planning leads to dictatorship because dictatorship is the most effective instrument of coercion and the enforcement of ideals, and as such essential if central planning on a large scale is to be possible.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our readingObserving the Rule of Law is what most clearly separates a free country from arbitrary government
Their wordsNothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principles known as the Rule of Law.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our readingThe Rule of Law, more than contract, should probably be seen as the true opposite of rule by status
Their wordsIndeed, the Rule of Law, more than the rule of contract, should probably be regarded as the true opposite of the rule of status.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsRule of Law was consciously evolved only during the liberal age and is one of its greatest achievements, not only as a safeguard but as the legal embodiment of freedom.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our readingTo use their knowledge in making plans, individuals must be able to predict how the state will act
Their wordsIf the individuals are to be able to use their knowledge effectively in making plans, they must be able to predict actions of the state which may affect these plans.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our readingAn authority directing all economic activity would control the limited means for all our ends
Their wordsThe authority directing all economic activity would control not merely the part of our lives which is concerned with inferior things; it would control the allocation of the limited means for all our ends.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our readingAn authority directing the whole economy would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable
Their wordsBut if we face a monopolist we are at his mercy. And an authority directing the whole economic system would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsThere is no reason why in a society that has reached the general level of wealth which ours has attained, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsBut if these endeavours are to be successful and not to destroy individual freedom, security must be provided outside the market and competition be left to function unobstructed.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIt is for this reason that the unscrupulous and uninhibited are likely to be more successful in a society tending towards totalitarianism.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIn the same way there can be no international law without a power to enforce it.
↗The Road to Serfdom (Routledge, 2001 edition)books.google.com All 23 from this book