“Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes”
“To these free-market economists, government intrusion ultimately sows the seeds of the next crisis. It hampers what one famous Austrian, Joseph Schumpeter, called the process of “creative destruction.”
Governments that spend money they don’t have to cushion downturns, they say, lead nations down the path of large debts and runaway inflation.
Eight decades ago, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Austrian school and its leading scholar, Friedrich A. von Hayek, fell out of favor relative to the more activist theories of John Maynard Keynes. The British economist’s ideas, which called for aggressive government spending during recessions, triumphed then and in the decades since, reflected most recently in measures like the $814 billion stimulus package. Austrian adherents were marginalized, losing influence in prominent journals and among policy makers.” Read more.
“Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes”
Kelly Evans
Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2010.
Image by jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
