Friedrich Hayek: A Biography

by Ebenstein, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780312233440
• ISBN10: 0312233442
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-21
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

This book tells the story of one of the most important public figures of the twentieth century. It is the first full biography of Friedrich Hayek, the Austrian economist who became, over the course of a remarkable career, the great philosopher of liberty in our time. In this richly detailed portrait, Alan Ebenstein chronicles the life, works, and legacy of a visionary thinker, from Hayek's early years as the scholarly son of a physician in fin-de-siecle Vienna on an increasingly wider world as an economist and political philosopher in Londom, New York, and Chicago. Ebenstein gives a balanced, integrated account of Hayek's extordinary diverse body of work, from his fist encounter with the free market ideas of mentor Ludwig Von Mises to his magisterial writings in later life on the legal, political, ethical, and economic requirements of a free society. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974, Hayek's vision of a renewed classical liberalism-of free markets and free ideas in free societies-has taken hold in much of the world. Alan Ebanstein's clearly written account is an essential starting point for anyone seeking to understand why Hayek's ideas have become the guiding force of our time. His illuminating portrait of Hayek the man brings to new life the spirit of a great scholar and tenacious advocate who has become, in Peter Drucker's words, "our time's preeminent social philosopher."

Author Biography

Alan Ebenstein is a professor of economics and political theory. He is the author of several books.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
PART ONE WAR 1899--1931
Family	7	(9)
World War I	16	(5)
University of Vienna	21	(10)
New York	31	(5)
Mises	36	(13)
PART TWO ENGLAND 1931--1939
LSE	49	(10)
Robbins	59	(8)
Keynes	67	(7)
Money and Business Fluctuations	74	(5)
Capital	79	(5)
International Gold Standard	84	(5)
Socialist Calculation	89	(5)
Economics, Knowledge, and Information	94	(9)
PART THREE CAMBRIDGE 1940--1949
The Abuse and Decline of Reason	103	(7)
Methodology	110	(4)
The Road to Serfdom	114	(14)
Celebrity	128	(12)
Mont Pelerin Society	140	(7)
Psychology	147	(8)
Popper	155	(12)
PART FOUR AMERICA 1950--1962
University of Chicago	167	(4)
Chicago School of Economics	171	(6)
Committee on Social Thought	177	(7)
Mill	184	(9)
The Constitution of Liberty	193	(13)
Influence	206	(11)
PART FIVE FREIBURG 1962--1974
Law, Legislation and Liberty	217	(6)
Liberty and Law	223	(4)
Marx, Evolution, and Utopia	227	(9)
Government and Morals	236	(8)
History of Ideas	244	(7)
Salzburg	251	(10)
PART SIX NOBEL PRIZE 1974--1992
Laureate	261	(5)
Friedman	266	(11)
Later Monetary Thinking	277	(7)
IEA	284	(7)
Thatcher	291	(6)
Opa	297	(9)
The Fatal Conceit	306	(8)
Neustift am Wald	314	(5)
``Universal Order of Peace''	319	(2)
Postscript	321	(4)
Chronology of Hayek's Major Works	325	(2)
Bibliographical Essay	327	(20)
Abbreviations	347	(2)
Notes	349	(46)
Index	395