F. A. Hayek on Monetary Policy, the Gold Standard, Deficits, Inflation, and John Maynard Keynes

Nobel laureate F. A. Hayek was one of the world’s leading free-market economists and social philosophers.
In this video from 1984, Hayek is interviewed at the University of Freiburg in Germany by James U. Blanchard III, chairman of the National Committee for Monetary Reform and a member of the Cato Institute’s Board of Directors.
A transcript of this interview can be found here: bit.ly/1OETJ8B
The Turney Collection: Never-Before-Seen Archive Tapes

[@alec7114]

Hayek predicts privatized currency, true economic genius.

[@gabi7156]

not only that, he proposed it

[@Vuk11Media]

Did he basically just predict Bitcoin as a solution to displacing monopoly control over the money supply? I wish he was alive long enough to see it.

[@klausfalke1272]

If Bicoin would be money than it would be the purest fiat money the world ever has seen! It has absolutely no backing. (National currency - a monopoly as legal tender, what I hate - has a very bad backing, but it has a backing.) Bitcoin also has no valuation base, no money standard. If you ask about a general price of a product in Bitcoin you will never get answer. And this is quite clear that you get no answer. Bitcoin is only a volatile speculation object and needs a value of a wrongly national money. Bitcoin is nearer to stock than to money. Payments you can do with stock, goods and rights. So would you call anything money where you can do payments with? We need a true Free Market Money!!

[@yodaheabebe3756]

I don't think he meant Bitcoin sir. I think he's talking about sth more akin to what we see today offered at Goldmoney.com...

[@alec7114]

He predicted privatized currency, not digital currency specifically

[@Candite231]

true

[@Candite231]

true. but btc is it

[@nigeljones9479]

This is a genius quote "I don't believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of governments. We can't take them out of the hands of governments by violence, all we can do is by some sly way introduce something they can't stop."

[@ypinheiro1]

minute 19:20

[@yodaheabebe3756]

what a man. Such accumulation of sound brilliance in one man.

[@hodgey1668]

I want to know what Friedman and Hayek would have said about BitCoin.

[@grandeoliba]

Old but gold, thanks for posting.

[@monikafl2267]

Clarity of his mind which he had at that age is something impressive.

[@LibertarianismDotOrg]

F. A. Hayek on John Maynard Keynes in this 1984 interview: "He was one of the cleverest men I knew, but he was not really a very competent economist at all."

[@panzerchl]

+Libertarianism.org subtitles please!

[@Senecamarcus]

Thing is though while I love Friedman and F.A Hayek and thy had amazing ideas and I agree with almost everything they say but I believe theu were not able to see far in the future the companies like Google, FB, and Amazon that today dominates the market at a level that is beyond anything. These guys acquire companies left and right with unmatched monopoly. I am with Richard Thaler on this end that humans misbehave and they need a "nudge" now and then. I mean look at the number of businesses that Google has gotten rid of or acquired over the years there is no competition. Also how long do we wait until something happens on its own in a free marker with no govt? 1 century or 2 or generations? Are people willing to suck it up for centuries? F A Hayek and Friedman give too much credit to freemarket but completely ignore human behavior and nature.

[@johndoe-rv3to]

He definitely foresaw this. It's nothing new. Back when he was born it was Standard Oil now it's Facebook and Amazon. Schumpeter called this the number one trait of capitalism: Creative destruction. It will happen to those companies as well when a competitor arises. Too much government will cause this process to take even longer, however, since those companies employ lobbyists to keep competition to a minimum through legislation. Then only a surprise appearance of a new competitor is able to disturb the market. Like airbnb appeared to take customers away from hotels and motels, like Uber appeared to take customers away from traditional cab companies, like Amazon appeared to force traditional book shops and then all other retailers into bancruptcy. Some day there will be a revolutionary new business concept forcing Amazon out of business.

[@cleo3422]

@@Senecamarcus Friedman was a Keynesian.

[@jameserenberger3425]

@@cleo3422 Almost all economists were after the crash. Friedman later learned the Free Market of Adam Smith was the greatest aspiration of mankind, and rejected government intervention in the market at all. Keynes suggested Quantitative Easing by a central bank such as the Fed, and government spending that money into the economy. Friedman would say government can pay people to dig holes and then fill them up, but that isn't a long term solution. The only difference between Friedman and Hayek on monetary policy is Friedman believed the existing system can work by gradually increasing the money supply at a predictable rate compared to the GDP and population size. Hayek proposed a scarcity backed currency such as a precious metal backed currency, and I believe that he would have approved of something like bitcoin since it has a fixed amount of currency and a fluctuating value based on demand.

[@WashingtonMonster86]

Its interesting to see someone born in the 1800's in color, rather modern quality. Also interesting to see an intellectual that was 30 years old during the depression. Like going back in time also.

[@kingarthur1217]

Less than 50,000 people have watched this iconic conversation. Sad.

[@London_miss234]

Very lovely video.

[@barty116]

I love how this was pre Bit-Coin

[@klausfalke1272]

He never did!! If Bicoin would be money than it would be the purest fiat money the world ever has seen! It has absolutely no backing. (National currency - a monopoly as legal tender, what I hate - has a very bad backing, but it has a backing.) Bitcoin also has no valuation base, no money standard. If you ask about a general price of a product in Bitcoin you will never get answer. And this is quite clear that you get no answer. Bitcoin is only a volatile speculation object and needs a value of a wrongly national money. Bitcoin is nearer to stock than to money. Payments you can do with stock, goods and rights. So would you call anything money where you can do payments with? We need a true Free Market Money!!

[@unboxviews]

barty116 No bitcoin doesn't has a value that holds it from going down to 0. Goldmoney offers the same easiness as bitcoin but gold backs the value of the currency and gives a more stronger and stable currency.

[@nobel6975]

@@klausfalke1272 cryptocurrency will become more stable as it gets more mainstream adoption, we're not there yet, but the concept and technology is so far better than the traditional payment methods, it's only a matter time.

[@razorblade7408]

@@nobel6975 what's scary is that if there is another financial crisis apart from covid I suspect the price of Bitcoin to accumulate in higher prices then Gold how much can you keep printing and devaluing the rate of the USD before people start questioning so much off the population is so poor. I think it's starting to happen now.

[@papaulogamerofc946]

@@klausfalke1272 Bitcoin has a 21 million maximum supply, so it doesn't need to be backed on something.

[@icoresearchgroup4175]

Hayek was a student of Ludwig Von Mises

[@jimmylaw2018]

He's such a brilliant economist, but I'm struggling with his accent.

[@firstal3799]

go live in Austria for 10 years then come back here. Problem Solved.

[@priyeshsrivastava8025]

@@firstal3799 or CC??

[@fanvalryinc6527]

Blame his false teeth not his accent

[@manavgupta8484]

Priceless!!!

[@bitcoin5189]

Can someone work on the English subtitle please? I can't understand what he says..but I really want to understand

[@miltonchurchill8040]

Hayek's answer to currency is the most practicle. Government may not give it up so the free market should and has developed alternatives for storing value.

[@somethingnewmetro]

hayek is so cute

[@ktowncapitalist]

Please do not dismiss him so casually.

[@tehArgento]

UwU

[@martonk]

@@tehArgento oh God xD

[@thefellowshipofbitcoin2684]

Our time has come.

[@razorblade7408]

Another 9 more years atleast

[@Candite231]

BITCOIN BABY!

[@firstal3799]

Genius

[@Deapcrash101]

Anyone else find Hayek's voice really hard to understand?

[@libertas2354]

Can you give a break to a 84 years old man?

[@reinaldogomes8666]

very hard to understand what he says. any transript?

[@V1ktorNemeth]

I wish there were subtitles in English because I just can´t understand clearly Mr. Hayek.

[@barty116]

+Viktor Németh You're an idiot.

[@davejohnson449]

HIT THE GEAR BUTTON AND SLOW THE VIDEO DOWN ONE NOTCH AND IT IS EASIER. I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AND WHILE THEY TALK LIKE THEY ARE DRUNK, I CAN UNDERSTAND IT BETTER AT THE SLOWER SPEED. GL.

[@davejohnson449]

HIT THE CC BUTTOn AND YOU GET CLOSED CAPTION IN ENGLISH!

[@davejohnson449]

www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/interview-f-hayek IS A COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT IN ENGLISH

[@LinksPB]

@@davejohnson449 Thank you! I probably would have found it, eventually, but you saved me the work

[@RMPT6]

Hello together is it posible to translate this interesting interview into german? My english is very well but they are talking about complex topis for example the gold standard. I would appreciate that . In Germany we are suffering from communism ideologies. Unfortunatly We dont have there a liberty party. Maybe its the right time to send Hayeks economic legency to all the world if we would like to achieve a better an peacefully world

[@weltarchiv4]

+RMPT6 Hayek lebte ab 1962 in Deutschland bis zu seinem Tod 1992. Aus dieser Zeit gibt es zur Schande der deutschen Presse leider kein einziges Interview von ihm auf seiner Muttersprache. Seine Bücher abgesehen von den ersten beiden sind alle im Original auf Englisch geschrieben. Die wichtigen gibt es aber alle auch als deutsche Übersetzungen.

[@firstal3799]

I thought he was speaking in German.

[@syedadeelhussain2691]

It shows that Economists without proper training in Econometrics and Maths can also speak sense ! Brilliant Philosopher

[@barty116]

+SYED ADEEL HUSSAIN - he did had have proper training in economics and mathematics lol. You're an idiot

[@syedadeelhussain2691]

+barty116 I think gutter slums like who don't have proper training in ethics should not use Watch this ! Idiot that you are .. Let me remind you that dr Hayek did not publish a single paper in economics using quantitative methods . The Austrians don't use mathematical techniques per se ! First learn about them and then contest my words . Stupid fellow

[@barty116]

+SYED ADEEL HUSSAIN I've never submitted a paper in economics or mathematics but I read both for bachelors and am reading for a masters in philosophy - yet I'd say I have training in all three. Idiot. Hayeks cousin Wittgenstien had training in neither mathematics or philosophy, yet published (if only the in the tractatus) in both. Poor reasoning there Syed

[@davejohnson449]

HAYEK WAS A BRILLIANT MATHEMATICIAN AND COULD FILL A BLACKBOARD WITH ECONOMETRIC BRILLIANCE ON HOW LABOR CAN BE EFFECTED WITH THE SALE OF EVEN ONE MORE RAIN COAT, AS THE STORY GOES. HE WAS TRAINED IN ALL OF IT, JUST WELL SPOKEN IN 'COMMON SENSE'

[@syedadeelhussain2691]

Austrian school of thought hardly gets published due to lack of mathematical reasoning in leading journals. Hayek hardly wrote a paper on economic theory using algebra or calculus etc.

[@zx9mel]

A quote for the ages . . . "Only government can take a valuable commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it worthless."

[@carknower]

@18:30

[@NormBa]

The laughing nonverbal response to a $1 trillion deficit by 2000 suggests that the question doesn't even warrant a serious answer. And yet here we are in 2021 with a dollar that, while suffering some recent headwinds, may be poised to strengthen as US interest rates creep upward causing global wealth to piles into the dollar anew. At some point, the man's thinking has be re-confronted when his timed prognostications are so badly off.

[@JoelBondurant]

@19:23

[@steff1238]

Legendary. He said it as a joke. Now it's becoming trueth.

[@NormBa]

@@steff1238 thank you for the time check Joel Bondurant. That's the excerpt I was looking for.

[@keenanmartens]

Looks like he predicted Nano

[@jamesstat]

Imagine what he’d be able to tell us about XRP & crypto today.

[@razorblade7408]

XRP? Serious?

[@rettoc2599]

The unit of account would come to be known as a Satoshi. Prescient

[@bretthx]

This aged all too well, U.S. debt possibly heading into the $500b range and a possibility of hitting a trillion...not even 40 years later and we blew past the trillion dollar ceiling.

[@Userkzb20253]

Brett Hicks 2019 GDP $21.4T, national debt $23T. The interest along is $500B, let alone 40 years later.

[@razorblade7408]

@@Userkzb20253 28 trillion currently. Alan Greenspan said " we can always print more money to get out debt" 🙄

[@victorbolum2554]

prof hayek predicted bitcoin!

[@LinksPB]

Huge misunderstandment of cryptocurrency in all these old comments. You can tell they are based off the media depiction of them back then and the lack of knowledge on their technology basis, by the constant use of Bitcoin as synonym of cryptocurrency even when ETH, to name one, was already well established.

[@timsession6736]

Since the comment below keeps getting deleted in a popular comment thread... FYI, I'm not against bitcoin, this is just for those that think it's better than gold. "Bitcoin has a lot of flaws compared to gold: 1.) Doesn't exist in reality 2.) Not fungible 3.) Requires electricity 4.) Requires internet connectivity for transactions 5.) Requires a computer or phone for transactions 6.) High price volatility 7.) Hasn't existed for very long 8.) Privacy 9.) Digital wallets have great potential to be become a backdoor global citizen's I.D. #.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Did Professor Hayek take a pinch of stuff at about 14:40?😀

[@lukepurse9042]

If only he wasn't so wrong about monetary policy.

[@azdjedi]

$300bn debt hahahah. That's didn't age well. If only he knew $31tn

[@sebastianvelez2677]

BITCOIN!

[@ghirardellichocolate201]

Refund

[@do.sof.91]

bitcoin

[@mns8732]

The difference between keynes and Hayek is striking: Hayek has no feelings for humanity.

[@adrianrg75]

Yes, unlike Keynes, Hayek did not have any feelings towards underage kids. And also unlike Keynes, Hayek did not write in a preface to the German edition of his main treatise that totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany were the most fit for the application of his economic theories.