Dylan Matthews, in Ezra Klein's blog quotes Hayek saying "“The preservation of competition [is not] incompatible with an extensive system of social services — so long as the organization of these services is not designed in such a way as to make competition ineffective over wide fields.” and "There is no reason why, in a society which has reached the general level of wealth ours has, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom; that is: some minimum of food, shelter and clothing, sufficient to preserve health. Nor is there any reason why the state should not help to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance in providing for those common hazards of life against which few can make adequate provision." Astonishing! Government healthcare reform is not part of the road to serfdom?
Matthews also notes that this was left out of a 'comic-book version of “The Road to Serfdom” printed in Look magazine in 1945'
Maybe Hayek was having a lucid moment of viewing free markets as physical manifestations, supported by whatever it took to bring them into being (history, regulations, lack of regulations, a felicitous distribution of wealth...) rather than some ideal essence consisting of the absence of government regulation.
Let me suggest that perhaps precisely this (I repeat) view of free markets as physical manifestations, supported by whatever it took to bring them into being (history, regulations, lack of regulations, a felicitous distribution of wealth is the element of realism needed to bring the economic debate down from the clouds.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment