The Road To Serfdom

People have argued that economics and money are lowly affairs that should be left to government administrators, while we focus on the higher things in life. But those inspiring pursuits also have costs, and Hayek points out that a planned economy “would control the allocation of the limited means for all our ends” (126). We would be restricted even in our loftier pursuits by government.

In a free market, our choices are limited by how much others are willing to pay for things we want, and we adjust our spending accordingly. A government that controls an economy has monopoly power over our purchasing decisions, and the government’s preferences, rather than our own, would control us.

Just as important is our freedom to choose our livelihood, which also would be curtailed in a planned economy: “The person whose qualifications are not of the standard type, or whose temperament is not of the ordinary kind, will no longer be able to come to special arrangements with an employer whose dispositions will fit in with his special needs” (129). Workers, far from being respected, “would more than ever become a mere means, to be used by the authority” (130).

Many a “bitter choice” people must make in the free market would be relieved in a planned economy, but only “through having the choice made for them by others” (130).