Friedrich Hayek: A Biography.(Review)

Friedrich Hayek: A Biography By Alan Ebenstein

St. Martin's Press, 320 pages, $29.95

The opening of Alan Ebenstein's Friedrich Hayek hints at the book's theme: "The twentieth century will be remembered in part as a battle between classical socialism and democratic welfare state capitalism to create future societal organization." But what's this to do with Hayek, the free market champion who was neither socialist nor social democrat?

The author sloppily describes the London School of Economics, where Hayek taught, as "the font from which the revival of classical liberalism, post-World War II democratic socialism, and the welfare state emerged in Great Britain and elsewhere"--as if these were simply branches of the same tree. Ebenstein opines that Hayek was contemptuous of national sovereignty because "it hinders the dream of one human race." He quotes his subject conceding that "a classical liberal order is not necessarily one where government is minimized but where competition is maximized." We also discover Hayek was an environmentalist: "He advocated government activity in what are usually considered environmental and local `quality of life' issues."

Ebenstein says Hayek advocated gun control, since firearms are "dangerous goods" whose sales could be restricted. Hayek's political correctness even extended to social issues like homosexuality, which--unlike guns, apparently--"is not a proper subject for coercive action for a state whose object is to minimize coercion." It's also claimed that Hayek "favored explicit government creation of laws and societal imposition of new non-coercive rules." All and all, it's an extremely odd interpretation of classical liberalism.

Ebenstein presents the pure "Austrian" school of economics of Hayek's teacher Ludwig von Mises as merely an influence on Hayekian thought. Citing a critical review by Mises of Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty, Ebenstein concludes that, unlike Mises, who believed the welfare state was incompatible with liberty, "Hayek was not a doctrinaire" It was "consistent" for Hayek to favor "piecemeal tinkering with the welfare state rather than its wholesale replacement" because he believed in "the insignificance of an individual's reason." Free market economist Milton Friedman is also given a platform to denigrate Mises, who is denounced as "intolerant" for holding--"ridiculous" methodological views--which are summarized in a few skeletal sentences. We are told that "Mises did not develop his theory of a business, or ...