Customer Reviews

The Road to Serfdom

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I would have prefered the book rather than the audio, but still very informative.Too bad they don't teach this stuff in school.

Hayek distinguishes liberty, or true freedom, from license and "serfdom." In the tradition of Adam Smith, he analyzes economic and political questions from moral and practical perspectives, with emphasis on individual liberty. His central conceit, that increasing government activity in the economic sphere would devalue individual dignity and stifle human progress, might seen overblown to some readers; it could be that the influence of this book on conservative political leaders and thinkers in the latter half of the American century may have corrected some of the impending problems Hayek foresaw. The Road to Serfdom is a pleasurable, thought-provoking read, persuasively written.

Even after six decades, The Road To Serfdom remains essential for understanding global economics and politics. Hayek's main point, that whatever the problem, human nature demands that government be the solution, and that this is the road to hell, remains more valid than ever. He pointed out how similar the situation was under Soviet communism and fascism in Germany and Italy.

The consensus in post-war Europe was for the welfare state and this has led to declining birth-rates, mass immigration from North Africa and the Middle East, and a tendency to exchange their ancient cultural values for the frauds of postmodernism and multiculturalism.

In this classic, Hayek discusses matters like planning and power, the fallacy of the utopian idea, planning versus the rule of law. He brilliantly explains how we are faced with two irreconcilable forms of social organization. Either choice and risk resides with the individual or he is relieved of both.

Complete economic security is inseparable from restrictions on liberty - it becomes the security of the barracks. When the striving for security becomes stronger than the love of freedom, a society is in deep, deep trouble. The way to prosperity for all is to remove the obstacles of bureaucracy in order to release the creative energy of individuals.

The government's job is not to plan for progress but to create the conditions favourable to progress. This has been proved by the awesome economic expansion under Reagan and Thatcher and by the amazing growth of the Asian Tiger economies, and most recently India as it implements sensible economic policies.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the contrast between the phenomenal growth in formerly communist countries like Estonia or Poland against the stagnant situation in Germany and France where they never had a Thatcher.

One of the best books by one of Hayek's intellectual heirs is In Defence Of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg. I also recommend Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand, Freedom: Alchemy For A Voluntary Society by Stephan Hoeller and The Mainspring Of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver.

When Hayek wrote "The Road to Serfdom" in 1944, the the economic portion of the political climate was steeped in Keynesian thought, and Hayek's work went almost unnoticed. Fifty-seven years later, there is little doubt as to who was right. The most prosperous nations on Earth are also the most free - socially AND economically.

Hayek is one of the fathers of the neo-classical school of economic thought, and modern libertarianism. In this book, Hayek demonstrates the inherent contradiction between freedom and a command economy, and the inevitable descent of socialism into totalitarianism. The accuracy of his predictions of the long-term results of communism were uncanny, and a dire warning against attempting this road yet again.

This is an absolutely essential book for a modern libertarian or student of economics, as well as any liberal or conservative with an open mind and a desire to understand the vastly differing economies and governments of the world. Written for the layman, it is lucid, clear, to-the-point, and, most importantly, has been backed up by world events during last half-century. A classic work in the field of economics.

I think that one of the true hallmarks of great writing and great thought is that it stands the test of time. Hayek wrote this in 1946, while socialism was sweeping across Europe, at that point he was the voice in the wilderness crying out against the onslaught of socialism, he was right. His views have been in favor (the tremendous success of Thatcher and Regan in the 1980s) and out of favor (today), but he has always been right.

This is a compleeling case that strikes right at the heart of the most important political debates. It is not about temporary issues that will be gone in a year, it is about the meat of the issue, that more government requires taking away liberty and choice for idividuals and leads to major problems. I will not try to summarize Hayek's work, because I will not do it justice, but I highly recommend this work.

Makes the compelling case that socialism/communism are really very much the same animal.

The real shame here is that many of those who most need to read this book are in denial about the failure of communism/socialism.

I adored Hayek's points about the linkage between Stalinist Russia and the National Socialist in Western Europe. It helps the American/British right debunk the myth that Hitler was of a conservative mould.

We should not forget the power of the free market. When man can no longer control his own economic future, then there is no freedom. Milton Freidman's 'Capitalism and Freedom' is another great work displaying the erudition of economics that every College Student and most High School students should be aware of.

A great treatise on why government should step aside and let the human moral compass lead the way to the human ideal. Why, we could still have children working seven days a week for pennies in airless factories if it weren't for the government coming in to legislate morality. Pay for safety inspections, or non-polluting equipement? How dare they get in the way of my Progress! Without government, we wouldn't have a facist minimum wage, and we wouldn't have to pay pensions for all those old people's useless years of work, or overtime, or the end to slavery. It's shameful! And what's up with those government research grants, or government contracts? Why should they limit my ability to use posions in my mining operations on public lands? Truly, a must read for anybody who wants to act as a hypocritical fascist and call it freedom.

I am not a professional economist, but have studied the subject for over 20 years. My three favorite authors on the subject are Adam Smith (for his work that helped shape a nation), F.A. Hayek (for his work that is still helping a world to recover from a 50 year "experiment" with collectivism), and Thomas Sowell (for his work to bring an understanding of economics and free markets to the general public).

Hayek's work explains many of the social and political upheavals of the 20th century. This book is powerful.

The Road to Serfdom - Hayek

Scribing about the Road To Serfdom is a humbling experience. This is, after all, a book that would launch a thousand other similar philosophies, perceiving humanity at its glorious apex, when it is, both economically and politically, liberated from the framework of the interfering state. Pertinently avowed within Hayek's writing is that germ of alarm and concern at the world he has left behind. This is no ordinary academic, swallowed up from an early age in the same old, same old study, but a man who had out of a horrible necessity fled from Nazi Germany to save himself.

The book gives an urgent, unhindering tone to what might well have been an otherwise stale political treatise. Hayek, we must remember, is not writing about politics from a third person perspective ; he is writing from the vantage point of someone supremely concerned that curtailment of our economic freedom in this country, through ostensible socialism, will eventually lead to solid totalitarianism. It goes like this. First, the wages are controlled, then the housing supply is controlled, then your neighbours disappear, then we build a Gulag. It is an easy idea, one that we can see in our everyday experiences - if you give a child a piece of chocolate, he will demand more and more. If you allow free reign to governments to have some economic control over my life- and yours- they will, and believe me on everyone of these words, will want the whole cake in the end. They won't just eat it, but snatch it, smash it, and fashion it in their own image.

Mocking is an easy habit, and it is something that liberals have often felt it necessary to do at the sincere, well-meaning writings of right-wing libertarians. It is a reaction to be pitied. But, the last twenty odd years have shown that heeding Hayekian politics results, ultimately, in the best of all possible economic results. Thatcherism's arching pillar was Hayekian. It is one that has been adopted, and hardly touched by the current Labour Government. The 90s, with their unparalleled growth and prosperity throughout the West, could only have happened because the leaders of the eighties took on board Hayek's fundamentals. We ought to pray that today's politicians reaffirm this vision.