Hayek BkRev

Zaman, Asad: Book Review of Friedrich A. Von Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, Journal of Islamic Business and Management, vol 3, no 1, 2013.

For main page on materials related to Methodology of Islamic Economics and Social Sciences, see: An Islamic Approach to Humanities.

Abstract: This book review summarized the main arguments of Hayek -- namely that if we try to provide social welfare (well-intentionedly) we will create governments with power to interfere with liberties,and this power will be mis-used to enslave the people. This was based on Hayek's experience with Hitler, which he lived through, but it was a false generalization. Trends of history do not support this genie getting out of the bottle hypothesis. The paper reviews the counter-evidence, and how Hayek's theories have caused massive damage to society today.

This Book Review is a revised and updated version of

Comments on “The Mahbub ul Haq Memorial Lecture: On Hayek’s Road to Serfdom: Sixty Years Later:” by Ali Khan. presented at 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE), 10-12 January 2005, Marriot Hotel, Islamabad.

REFERENCES:

    • Amartya Sen (reprinted 1984); Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Oxford University Press, UK.

    • Elton Rayack (1984); Not So Free to Choose: The Political Economy of Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan Praeger Publishers.

    • Francis Fukuyama (reprinted 1993); The End of History and the last Man, Published by Harper Perennial.

    • Gertrude Himmelfarb (1996), the De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values, Vintage Publishers, and NewYork.

    • J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. (2004), “The Road to Serfdom and the world economy: 60 years later,” working paper, downloadable from internet.

    • Michel Foucault. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977. Ed. Colin Gordon. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.

    • Peter Farkas (2001); “The Collapse of Russian Industry” The Institute for World Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Working Paper.

    • Zaman, Asad (2013); “Is Development Accumulation of Wealth? Islamic Views,” Afro Eurasian Studies, Volume 2, Issues 1 & 2, August.

For links to many other references on the Methodology of Islamic Economics and Social Sciences, see (main page) An Islamic Approach to Humanities