On F.A. Hayek’s 116th Birthday

Today is the 116th anniversary of Hayek’s birthday. Peter Klein summarizes his contributions in under 4 minutes here. Also, it’s 20% off all Hayek books and memorabilia in the Mises store. 

Many remember Hayek for his non-economic writings, but the core of Hayek’s economics contributions has been related to business cycles, prices, and the use of knowledge in the marketplace. Many of his key economics writings are included in our volume Prices and Production and Other Works, edited by Joseph Salerno. 

The Hayek-Keynes debate continues to be relevant today, of course, since Keynesianism remains broadly popular, even among people who have never heard of Keynes. Back when I taught introductory political economy, I found the short film “Fear the Boom and Bust,” which features a musical debate between Hayek and Keynes, to be a great little introduction to Austrian Business Cycle Theory for someone who knows nothing of the Keyes-Hayek debate. These lines especially sum up root of the problem: 

The boom gets started with an expansion of credit
The Fed sets rates low, are you starting to get it?
That new money is confused for real loanable funds
But it’s just inflation that’s driving the ones

Who invest in new projects like housing construction
The boom plants the seeds for its future destruction
The savings aren’t real, consumption’s up too
And the grasping for resources reveals there’s too few

Remote video URL

So the boom turns to bust as the interest rates rise
With the costs of production, price signals were lies

Here are all of Hayek’s lines: 

I’ll begin in broad strokes, just like my friend Keynes
His theory conceals the mechanics of change,
That simple equation, too much aggregation
Ignores human action and motivation

And yet it continues as a justification
For bailouts and payoffs by pols with machinations
You provide them with cover to sell us a free lunch
Then all that we’re left with is debt, and a bunch

If you’re living high on that cheap credit hog
Don’t look for cure from the hair of the dog
Real savings come first if you want to invest
The market coordinates time with interest

Your focus on spending is pushing on thread
In the long run, my friend, it’s your theory that’s dead
So sorry there, buddy, if that sounds like invective
Prepared to get schooled in my Austrian perspective

[Refrain]

The place you should study isn’t the bust
It’s the boom that should make you feel leery, that’s the thrust
Of my theory, the capital structure is key.
Malinvestments wreck the economy

The boom gets started with an expansion of credit
The Fed sets rates low, are you starting to get it?
That new money is confused for real loanable funds
But it’s just inflation that’s driving the ones

Who invest in new projects like housing construction
The boom plants the seeds for its future destruction
The savings aren’t real, consumption’s up too
And the grasping for resources reveals there’s too few

So the boom turns to bust as the interest rates rise
With the costs of production, price signals were lies
The boom was a binge that’s a matter of fact
Now its devalued capital that makes up the slack.

Whether it’s the late twenties or two thousand and five
Booming bad investments, seems like they’d thrive
You must save to invest, don’t use the printing press
Or a bust will surely follow, an economy depressed

Your so-called “stimulus” will make things even worse
It’s just more of the same, more incentives perversed
And that credit crunch ain’t a liquidity trap
Just a broke banking system, I’m done, that’s a wrap.