Description

Hayek vs Keynes: A Battle of Ideas offers a clear historical account of the works of the two great totems of modern economic thought: Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom and Keynes’s The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money were written against a background of devastation following the First World War. Thomas Hoerber explains the historical context in which the books were written and shows how lessons can be drawn for current economic and political phenomena, such as the recent financial crisis, globalization and European integration. He illustrates how classical economic theory as well as a qualitative method in economics can enlighten our understanding of the present economic environment. With a broad European perspective, this book places the two great economic thinkers of the twentieth century in their historical context, and asks what we can learn from their work today.

Publisher Review

"The shock of the Great Depression led to intellectual tumult as economists tried to understand the causes and recommend responses. To Keynes, economic narrative offered a better approach than mathematics; to Hayek, the problem was too little abstraction. To Keynes, people could work together within the framework of the state; to Hayek, the answer was to operate within the free market. The shock of the Great Recession has not had the same impact on economics, with mathematical modeling remaining in the ascendant, and the state more often seen as the disease than the cure. Hoerber's analysis of these two giants of the history of economics makes us reflect on the crisis of our own time as much as on the world they inhabited."--Martin Daunton, University of Cambridge "Claremont Review of Books" "The similarities Hoerber finds between Hayek and Keynes are illuminating. Hoerber emphasizes each man's reliance on narrative to explain his ideas. The degree to which many economists equate economics with the use of mathematical formulae was deeply regretted by Hayek, and would horrify Keynes."--Samuel Gregg "Claremont Review of Books" "Where Hoerber is correct is when he asserts that the great differences between Keynes and Hayek are relevant to today's world."--Richard Vedder "Wall Street Journal"