Economist Russ Roberts has a good column in today’s Wall Street Journal outlining the continuing relevance of F.A. Hayek’s work to our own time: He was born in the 19th century, wrote his most influential book more than 65 years ago, and he’s not quite as well known or beloved as the sexy Mexican actress […]
Tag Archives | Hayek
Does Hayek Belong in High School Economics Classes?
At the Freakonomics blog, economist Justin Wolfers criticizes a recent Texas Board of Education effort to include the work of F.A. Hayek in high school economics classes. He sees it as a “conservative” ideological mandate that isn’t justified by Hayek’s scholarly influence: Sunday’s New York Times reported on attempts by the Texas Board of Education […]
Gift-Giving and Government Planning
In a well-known 1993 article and a recent book, economist Joel Waldfogel argues that holiday gift-giving is inefficient. Very often, givers don’t fully understand the recipients’ wants and end up purchasing things that the recipients value at less than their cost. Waldfogel estimates that some 10 to 33% of the value of gifts is “wasted” […]
Hayek on the Use of Superior Expert Knowledge as a Justification for Paternalism
In my most recent post on paternalism, I criticized claims that paternalistic policies can be justified on the grounds that government-appointed experts have greater knowledge than consumers and are less likely to be influenced to cognitive error. Among other points, I emphasized that government experts have no way of determining how much benefit consumers get […]