Thread: Keynes/Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics

Like any book mentioning Hayek (he's generally only known or referenced by the real gold standard loolah hacks) it seems to hold a considerable bias against Keynes (the only one of the two who actually did anything useful) while trying to present itself as objective but still might be worth a gander within that parametre.

If you're looking for books on Keynesian ideas Will Hutton's "The Revolution that never was" and Robert Skidelsky's "Keynes: Return of the Master" are both good reads - in Hutton's case a serious academic overview that deals with classical arguments and explains Keynesian views within that narrative. It also reads easy for a book dealing with such complex perspectives. For Hayek I actually enjoy reading his own works, like "The Road to Serfdom". He was totally bonkers like, but it's still intellectually stimulating and helps grasp the theoretical underpinnings of his philosophy.

Hayek's Nobel speech is brilliant and very illuminating.

Originally Posted by Shek

Hayek's Nobel speech is brilliant and very illuminating.

Wow. You're right. And beautifully succinct. A very interesting thought at the beginning about the effect of large scientific foundations in accentuating the swings of scientific fashion, too.

apropos to the topic, a set of dueling letters between keynes et al and hayek et al from 1932.

http://thinkmarkets.files.wordpress....mbridgelse.pdf

there is some irony in hayek stating, in 1932, that "we are of the opinion that many of the troubles of the world at the present time are due to imprudent borrowing and spending on the part of public authorities"--

this at a time when the entire western industrialized world was following neo-classical economics to a T, in an attempt to slash government spending to balance budgets thrown for a loop by massively declining revenue.