Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts

of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org

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Today is October 10, 2011, and my guest is Nicholas Webshot. His latest book is Canes

Hayek, the clash that defined modern economics. Nicholas, welcome to Econ Talk.

Thank you very much.

As our listeners know, I'm very interested in Canes and Hayek. I very much enjoy reading

your book. It's a real tour de force. You've taken a very complicated set of ideas from

both men and done a superb job making these ideas accessible. Let's begin with their early

years. Their relationship, Canes, was the older man. He was world famous after he wrote

the economic consequences of the peace, which was his condemnation of the Treaty of Versailles

after the end of World War I. Canes, Hayek at this point, is a young, aspiring Austrian

economist, literally, from Austria, who's invited to England to challenge Canes's voice

in favor of who's arguing for a larger role for government in fighting the Depression.

What happened when Hayek came to England? How do you get there? Who invite to talk about

Robins' role in inviting him?

Yes. There was a new professor of economics at the London School of Economics called

Lionel Robins. He said he was the youngest professor, and that's true professor, in Britain

at that time, and he was about 30. He was determined to ensure that the LSE had a good reputation,

which it already had, but it was a reputation that he didn't entirely sympathize with.

...