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EconTalk

Larry White on Hayek and Money

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

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4.74.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2010

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Larry White of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Hayek's ideas on the business cycle and money. White lays out Hayek's view of business cycles and the role of monetary policy in creating a boom and bust cycle. The conversation also explores the historical context of Hayek's work on business cycle theory--the onset of the Great Depression and the intellectual battle with Keynes and his work. In the second half of the podcast, White turns to alternative ways to provide money, in particular, the possibility of private currency and free banking explored by Hayek late in his career. White then describes his own research on free banking and in particular, the more than a century-long experience Scotland had with free banking. The podcast concludes with the economics rap "Fear the Boom and Bust," recently created by John Papola and Russ Roberts. The song itself can be downloaded at EconStories.tv where viewers can also watch the video, read the lyrics, and find related resources on the web for Keynes and Hayek.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.

0:12.5

I'm your host Russ Roberts of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover

0:17.3

Institution.

0:18.7

Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast,

0:25.8

and find links to other information related to today's conversation.

0:29.9

Our email address is mailadicontalk.org.

0:33.6

We'd love to hear from you.

0:35.6

Today is January 27, 2010, and my guest is Larry White, Professor of Economics at George

0:44.4

Mason University, and our topic is Hayek.

0:47.6

And in particular, Hayek's view of the business cycle and of money.

0:51.3

As listeners may know, Film Director John Popola and I have written a rap song about

0:55.5

Keynes and Hayek, which we'll play at the very end of this interview.

0:59.6

And you can watch the video at econstories.tv.

1:03.1

Given the release of the video, I thought it'd be good to delve into the thought of Hayek

1:06.1

a little deeper, and that's why Larry White is here.

1:08.4

Larry, welcome to Econ Talk.

1:09.8

Thanks, Russ.

1:10.8

Good to be here.

1:11.8

Let's start with the business cycle.

1:13.3

What did Hayek see as the cause of the business cycle of the booms and the busts?

1:20.8

Well he had two scenarios.

1:23.6

One was that the central bank just independently decided to cheap and credit, expand the supply

...

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