Hayek vs Keynes: A Battle of Ideas

by Thomas Hoerber

Few thinkers better encapsulate the two polarities of economic and social thought in the twenty-first century than Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes. Wrestling with the horrors of world wars, the atrocities of fascist regimes, the hungers of the Great Depression, and the turbulence of political ideologies as they grew evermore pitted against one another, both sought a cure for modernity’s terrible problems and a safeguard against future catastrophes—a task that would leave them with completely different conclusions. In this book, Thomas Hörber offers a clear historical account of the work of these two great figures of modern economic thought.
           
Hoerber looks at the two central works that would alter the course of economic Keynes’s The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money and Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom . Placing them within the context of the devastation that followed World War I, he explains how the historical conditions in which these books were written help us better understand how their lessons can illuminate the economic and political phenomena of our own era, such as the recent financial crisis, globalization, and European integration. He shows how Keynes’s emphasis on government regulation through monetary and fiscal policy and Hayek’s great cautions against the tyrannies that can so easily arise from central planning have led to competing schools of economic thought. Making accessible classic economic theory and employing a qualitative method of economics, he offers an articulated account of how history has led to our current economic environment.
           
With a broad perspective and incisive but clear examinations of important economic theories, this book places the two great economists of the twentieth-century within their historical context, illuminating how much we have learned—and can still learn—from them both.
 

192 pages, Hardcover

Published June 15, 2017

Reviews

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating little book. Basically what it says on the tin- an examination of Hayek and Keynes. I haven't read their seminal works but plan to. This served as a nice summary until I can get to their books.

Horber is a Professor of European studies, as such he examines Keynes and Hayek from a POV I was not expecting. He spends a lot of time establishing the historical and philosophical context of Hayek and Keynes work to make it more accessible to an every day reader.

At first I felt like Horber was arguing in favor of Hayek, but I realized Hayek needed more philosophical and social science background to explain his views. Horber does a pretty good job of breaking down each economists points and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

This book is 130ish pages long and focuses on "The Road to Serfdom" and "General Theory." As someone who only has a semester of micro and macro economics each I would say this is a good starting point. I learned a lot and it left me with a lot to think about.

[Qasim Ahmad Ilyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the author is himself not an economist, like myself, and possesses broader understanding of the European history and politics, again like myself, I happened to read this book with much delight. Precisely the propagation of both Hayekian and Keynesian ideas, without mathematical and graphically explanation, may have done a little harm to the world of economists. Yet for me, it was a perfect account to summarize the political economy of both giants of economics without resorting to complex mathematical formulations. In fact, the complex mathematical formulations may have made the economics as full fledged discipline, but what it has cost is that the economics is about the choices and therefore decisions we make are by nature complex and are made by the human beings. Having said that, non-economists deserve the model of normative justice by withholding the sophisticated mathematical and graphical explanations. The author of this book has done the same. Notwithstanding, the political economy of both F.A. Hayek and M.J. Keynes have been rendered too precise that some of the economic ideas are obscured by the Author, either by his sheer lack of economics background or his limited space for further exploration. Better would it be if justice here is also done. Rest, the book is good read for any who is concerned with the role of classical liberalism as an end itself and the role of state as means to an end, in purely economic rationale.

[Christy Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to these two opposing economic models. There has been much debate as to whether or not there is a need to shift to some sort of balance between these two now that we are well past the Post WWII phase that saw Keynes’ model dominate.