Their names may not be on the tip of your tongue, but they should be.
Their thoughts have dramatically changed the way we live our lives. They are economic thinkers whose ideas and concepts have significantly influenced those who came behind. To know their work is to understand the importance of public policy think tanks to our daily lives.
The think tank movement around the world is based on the notion that ideas have consequences. Think tanks help people see why some policy ideas are good and work, while others, no matter how good they may sound, don't and can't work.
One of the fathers of the postwar think tank movement was economist and Nobel Prize winner F.A. Hayek, who wrote the classic The Road to Serfdom in 1944. It warned the soon to be victorious Allied Powers that they were being far too influenced by the ideas of regimentation and central planning that were the hallmark of their enemies. The book was a blockbuster and is widely credited with changing the intellectual atmosphere of the postwar world in the direction of greater individual liberty and personal responsibility. He also advised Sir Antony Fisher to start a think tank rather than go into politics. The result was the Institute for Economic Affairs in London, one of the world’s most productive and respected public policy think tanks.
Hayek’s work and that of other economic thinkers continue to influence, provoke and improve our lives today. Below are links to articles that provide insight into the most influential economic ideas and those who brought them to life.
The man who changed everyone's life: The ubiquitous ideas of F.A. Hayek.
Bastiat: The man who saw what wasn't there.
Hayek versus Keynes: How a free market economist defeated the 20th century's most famous proponent of central planning.