Synopses & Reviews
In 1931, when the young F. A. Hayek challenged the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes, sixteen years his senior, and one of the world's leading economists, he sparked a spirited debate that would influence economic policy in democratic countries for decades. Their extensive exchange lasted until Keynes's death in 1946, and is reprinted in its entirety in this latest volume of The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek,
When the journal Economica published a review of Keynes's Treatise on Money by Hayek in 1931, Keynes's response consisted principlally of an attack on Hayek's own work on monetary theory, Prices and Production. Conducted almost entirely in economics journals, the battle that followed revealed two very different responses to a world in economic crisis. Keynes sought a revision of the liberal political order--arguing for greater government intervention in the hope of protecting against the painful fluctuations of the business cycle. Hayek instead warned that state involvement would cause irreparable damage to the economy.
This volume begins with Hayek's 1963 reminiscence The Economics of the 1930s as Seen from London, which has never been published before. The articles, letters, and reviews from journals published in the 1930s are followed by Hayek's later reflections on Keynes's work and influence. The Introduction by Bruce Caldwell puts the debate in context, providing detailed information about the economists in Keynes's circle at Cambridge, their role in the acceptance of his ideas, and the ways in which theory affected policy during the interwar period.
Caldwell calls the debate between Hayek and Keynes a battle for the minds of the risinggeneration of British-trained economists. There is no doubt that Keynes won the battle during his lifetime. Now, when many of Hayek's ideas have been vindicated by the collapse of collectivist economies and the revival of the free market around the world, this book clarifies Hayek's work on monetary theory--formed in heated opposition to Keynes--and illuminates his efforts to fight protectionism in an age of economic crisis.
F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of classical liberal thought in the twentieth century. He taught at the University of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg.
Synopsis
Contra Keynes and Cambridge is composed of three parts: Part I consists of two essays, the first being a recollection by Hayek of his time at the London School of Economics in the 1930s, followed by his contribution to an early debate about the paradox of saving; Part II reprints the full debates between Hayek and Keynes in
Economica in the early 1930s, and Hayek's exchanges with Sraffa that followed; Part III includes some of Hayek's reminiscences on Keynes. F. A. Hayek challenged one of the world's leading economists, John Maynard Keynes, and his economic theories, which sparked a spirited debate that has influenced economic policy in democractic countries for decades.
F. A. Hayek (18991992) was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 and the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and was one of the leading Austrian economists and political philosophers of the twentieth century.
Bruce Caldwell is Professor of Economics and the Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. He is the current General Editor of The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek.
Table of Contents
Editorial Foreword ix
Introduction 1
PART I. HAYEK COMES TO THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
One
The Economics of the 1930s as Seen from London 49
Addendum: Edwin Cannan 64
Two
The "Paradox" of Saving 74
PART II. HAYEK'S EXCHANGES WITH KEYNES AND SRAFFA
Three
Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J. M. Keynes 121
Four
The Pure Theory of Money: A Reply to Dr. Hayek, by J. M. Keynes 147
Five
A Rejoinder to Mr. Keynes 159
Addendum: The Early Hayek-Keynes Correspondence 164
Six
Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J. M. Keynes (continued) 174
Seven
Dr. Hayek on Money and Capital, by Piero Sraffa 198
Eight
Money and Capital: A Reply 210
Nine
A Rejoinder, by Piero Sraffa 223
PART III. ESSAYS ON KEYNES
Ten
Review of Harrod's Life of J. M. Keynes 227
Addendum: Review of Sir William Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society 233
Eleven
Symposium on Keynes: Why? 237
Twelve
Personal Recollections of Keynes and the 'Keynesian Revolution' 240
Thirteen
The Keynes Centenary: The Austrian Critique 247
Editor's Acknowledgements 257
Index 259