<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > one more person to read Hayek, one more guarantee of freedom</h1>
Hayek's homeland: freedom
Hayek was born on May 8, 1899, to an intellectual family in Vienna, and died on March 23, 1992, at the age of 92. The priest addressed his funeral: "When humanity was facing a major crisis, many great people went to the United States to continue to think about politics and economics – Hayek was one of them. He spent his life proving to people that human prosperity, happiness and dignity come from individual freedom, not collectivism...
He is history
Hayek's life was bumpy and lucky. He witnessed first-hand the take-off of the industrialization of electrical appliances and his personal involvement in world wars; he also witnessed the disillusionment of the Soviets — in fact, he was a utopian gravedijack himself.
The rise of totalitarianism
Hayek's youth coincided with drastic changes in the world, the Collapse of the Old European Order in the First World War; the increasing arrogance of humanity by new technologies, the utopian elite denouncing capitalism and fantasizing about "building a paradise on earth with scientism"; the Great Depression ingratiated the myth of totalitarianism in the Soviet Union...
Companionship with the Master
After World War I, Hayek was admitted to the University of Vienna. He was originally a "moderate socialist", but fortunately he met mises, the "dean of the Austrian School". After reading Socialism, Hayek was completely conquered by Mises, and his thinking took a major turn, and he began to reflect: Can those beautiful plans and promises really be realized?
Initial battle fame
In the 1930s, Keynesianism was highly sought after due to the "success" of the planning system.
Keynes believed that the root cause of the depression was insufficient aggregate social demand, leading to cyclical employment downturns. Therefore, it advocates advanced consumption, expanding the deficit, and stimulating the economy with money and finance.
Hayek, on the other hand, is tit-for-tat: stimulating the economy with money and finance is tantamount to quenching thirst – distorting real consumer demand, misleading capital to accumulate upstream, and when the rapidly expanding false consumption depletes savings, it has to continue to cut interest rates and print money, and eventually, the vicious circle of inflation triggers the Great Depression.
Hayek launched a polemic, but was ridiculed as "gibberish." But he never gave up on his convictions, and his thinking extended beyond economics to political philosophy: Why are people always willing to accept false ideas?
As for Adam Smith's discovery of the division of labor, Hayek argued that the planning system is unsustainable, and that the essence of the division of labor is the division of knowledge. For thousands of years, everyone has spontaneously used fragmented, unique, ineffable knowledge to divide labor and trade with the price as the only signal, and to promote the progress and prosperity of mankind.
No individual or group can grasp all the knowledge needed for the operation of the market, so the planning system will inevitably cause great waste, eliminate the division of knowledge, and eventually lead to the end of truth, the collapse of the economy, and the degeneration of morality.
In 1944, Hayek published The Road to Slavery, in which he predicted that utopia would never be realized, that the planning system trampled on private property and ignored basic humanity, bringing only want, chaos, and slavery, and ultimately self-destruction. Over the years, this book has awakened countless utopian patients and inspired everyone who loves freedom.
In 1947, Hayek and Mises launched the Pilgrimage Mountain Society, which became the most determined force in the dystopian. His tome, the Freedom Charter, is full of hundreds of thousands of words, a comprehensive and systematic exposition of liberal theory and answers basic questions about liberalism. What does freedom mean? What is the value of freedom? How can individual freedom be guaranteed?
In 1974, the liberal scholar Hayek "very unexpectedly" won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Miao Dahl, a socialist who won the prize at the same time as him, questioned: Such an obscure "opposition" is entitled to stand alongside me? The King of Sweden pays tribute to Hayek: the most respected moral philosopher and political economist in economics since Adam Smith.
Competition of ideas
He firmly believed that only the free market could make full use of scarce knowledge and keep society functioning basically; only ideas could defeat ideas, and that the mission of scholars was to correct misconceptions.
In 1978, Hayek set up a ring in Paris, hoping that advocates of the planning system would openly debate him. Unfortunately, there is no one to fight.
Fatal conceit
History was finally on Hayek's side. The once "prosperous and powerful" planning system gradually declined, the Soviet Empire collapsed, and countless crimes against humanity were exposed to the sun. And all of this Hayek had predicted decades ago.
(See Fatal Conceit)
Yang Xiaokai: Hayek completely conquered me
Yang Xiaokai, a Chinese economist closest to the Nobel Prize, said: "I have never admired any Nobel laureates, and several of them are difficult to deserve this honor." And, because of my penchant for the scientific method, I have never paid much attention to non-mathematical ideas. Hayek never used mathematical models, but after reading his books, I felt a strong sense of hatred and admiration.
Distorted prophets
Embarrassingly, after Hayek's death, countless supporters of the planning system claimed to be "Hayekists." They condone arbitrary power, disregard individual freedom, hinder free competition... Unbeknownst to them, these vassals' elegant words and deeds are being mercilessly ridiculed by Hayek in the grave.
Utopia's staunchest opposition
Determined and sincere, Hayek has long been marginal, enduring accusations of "madness" and "shamelessness", and remaining firm in his opposition position – he is willing to be a lone fighter in order to defend the free market.
Why reread Hayek?
Reading Hayek's books can transform one's mind. Today, when the world is undergoing great changes, is the bad order making a comeback, or is the good order blossoming the flower of civilization? The answer is uncertain, depending on our attitude and understanding of thoughts like Hayek that can truly travel through time and space.
Hayek is in China
In addition to rereading Hayek, we pay tribute to the ideas fighters like Hayek. It is they who keep our freedom from being completely lost, so that freedom-loving people will not be lonely and still have a yearning for light.
Although, with the fulfillment of Hayek's prophecies — the universal failure of planned economies and totalitarian regimes around the world — Hayek has long since entered the halls of the prophets. However, vigilance on the road to slavery is only a flame of Hayek's thought, not the whole thing. If we understand Hayek merely as the "standard-bearer of liberalism," humanity is still far from true freedom.