Conversations with Great Economists: Friedrich A. Hayek, John Hicks, Nicholas Kaldor, Leonid V.Kantorovich, Joan Robinson, Paul A.Samuelson, Jan Tinbe [Paperback]

This book by my old college classmate Diego Pizano presents conversations that he held about thirty years ago with eminent economists that were active at the time. Its preparation benefited from the author's deep familiarity with the writings of these economists and from an intelligent selection of issues that he discussed with them. Dr. Pizano's book also deserves credit for the clarity and readability of a subject matter that is at times complex, albeit always considerably interesting. With these ingredients, the reader will readily appreciate a set of economic controversies of the time, important both because of the academic interest they elicited as well as for their application to issues that were in fact not too different from those we face today.

The economists covered by the book span the widest ideological gamut, ranging from the free market extreme represented by Professor Hayek, to Professor Robinson's Keynesianism, and to Professor Kantarovich's economic planning. The author exploits this wide range of views to elicit responses from these economists to issues of interest that mark the book's thematic unity. By way of example, I point to two of those issues that should be of interest to readers. One relates to the methods that these economists used to develop their arguments, an issue that straddles the threshold between economics and philosophy and in which the book displays the author's deep interest and knowledge. The discussion highlights Hayek's support for an approach akin to the philosophy of Karl Popper, who argued that scientific theories, by their abstract nature, can be verified only by probing into their observable implications (the "pattern of a process", in Hayek's formulation). This contrasts with the more Kantian approach that emerges in the conversations with Professor Robinson or with the "a priori truths" of Lionnel Robbins and Ludwig Von Mises that Samuelson, in turn, rejects in his chapter.

The second example refers to the ubiquitous debate between free-market advocates and those that support planning and state intervention. It is particularly interesting that the pendulum of public opinion between the two continues to this day as each of the two approaches shows its positive and adverse manifestations. The chapter covering Kantarovich is an interesting testimonial of optimism on the merits of planning ten years prior to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. At the other extreme, Hayek's aversion to the concept of "social justice" in a market economy is something of a shock at a time when governments increasingly collect taxes, reputedly to achieve greater "social" justice through public spending.

The two examples above illustrate the depth and ample thematic content of a book that also discusses several other issues such as economic development and economic cycles. The care that Dr. Pizano afforded to the preparation of these discussions and the clarity in their presentation deserve my five-start rating of this book, which I took the opportunity to read and enjoy again in its second edition.

This book contains an excellent interview with Friedrich Hayek on a variety of topics. The interviewer is well informed, and Hayek is in top form providing substantive and concise answers to good questions.

"Conversations with Great Economists" by Diego Pizano
Commentary by Jorge Ramírez-Ocampo, Former Minister for Economic Development of Colombia
Bogota, 28th September 2009

I met Diego Pizano in London in the early seventies. I was impressed by his maturity, devotion to academic work and profound concepts on economic issues. I have confirmed that impression during the last nearly forty years.
The book I comment is a small jewel. It was possible thanks to the impressive erudition in economic matters of the author and to the audacity of a young Colombian scholar who was bold enough to propose to some of the most important economists of the time a very ambitious project.
The method he used and his capacity to get to the point in his well prepared questions, allowed the people he interviewed to be very specific in their answers. The book will help his readers to understand some of the most complex concepts of economic theory.
Pizano did not limit the scope of his enquiries to people whose opinions were close to his own. Among the seven eminent economists interviewed there is a wide range of economic thinking: from Leonid Kantorovich, one of the main inspirers of economic planning in the Soviet Union, to Friedrich Hayek, a prophet of the political right in the XXth Century.
I strongly recommend the reading of this excellent book to whoever wants to try to understand the apparent contradiction between the progress of economic thinking and the frequent failures of economic policy during the last 70 years. This is much more relevant now, when we have to cope with the crisis we have been witnessing during the last two years.

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