Hayek ― A Collaborative Biography: Eugenics, Cultural Evolution, and the Fatal Conceit

This tenth part of Robert Leeson's collaborative biography of Friedrich August von Hayek explores Hayek’s thought on the free market and democracy. Using an unparalleled array of archival materials, Leeson reconstructs Hayek’s thinking as the notorious economist and his acolytes set about reshaping the post-war economic order. Darker areas of Hayek’s thought are also explored, including the influence of eugenics on his thought and his support for radical right-wing dictatorships in South America.

Leeson concludes this volume with a collection of chapters written by eminent scholars of Hayek. These chapters cover subjects as diverse as Hayek’s influence on scholars of Darwinian evolution, his views on psychology, and cultural evolution.

Robert Leeson has published numerous articles in journals including the Economic Journal and Economics and History of Political Economy. In addition to writing and editing nineteen books, he is the co-editor (with Charles Palm) of The Collected Writings of Milton Friedman. He has been Visiting Professor of Economics at Stanford University, USA since 2005, National Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution since 1995 and Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame Australia University since 2008. He has held other visiting positions at Cambridge University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara University and the University of Western Ontario.