Friedrich August von Hayek
Life and Work
- 8. Mai 1899
in Wien - 23. März 1992
- Generation 4
The episode on Friedrich August von Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek in audio: the life, the one idea, the most famous argument, and which work to read first. About 15 minutes.
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Stations
- 1917Matura at the Elisabethgymnasium— approximate
Matura at the Viennese Elisabethgymnasium.
- 1917–1918Officer in the First World War
Joined an artillery regiment in 1917 and fought on the Italian front; suffered hearing damage to his left ear.
- 1918–1923Studies at the University of Vienna— approximate
After the war he enrolled in law at the University of Vienna, but devoted himself mainly to economics, psychology, the philosophy of science and philosophy. He read Carl Menger and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, made his first contacts with the Austrian School and came to know members of the Vienna Circle.
- 1921Doctorate in Law
Received a doctorate in law (Dr. iur.) at the University of Vienna in 1921 under Friedrich von Wieser.[6]
- 1922Break with Socialism through Reading Mises
Reading Ludwig von Mises's "Die Gemeinwirtschaft" (Socialism; 1922), which demonstrated the impossibility of economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, turned him away from his socialist sympathies.[1]
- 1923Doctorate in Political Science
Received a doctorate in political science (Dr. rer. pol.) at the University of Vienna in 1923.[7]
- 1923–1924Research assistant at New York University
In 1923/1924 he worked as a research assistant to Jeremiah Jenks at New York University, where he compiled macroeconomic data.[8]
- 1926Marriage to Hella von Fritsch
In August 1926 he married Helene Berta Maria von Fritsch ("Hella").[9]
- 1927Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research
Together with Mises he founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, where from 1927 Hayek did "hard pioneering work on the economic foundations". Mises had earlier recognized his talent and invited him to the private seminar.[1]
- 1929Habilitation at the University of Vienna
He completed his Habilitation in 1929 at the University of Vienna with "Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle".[16]
- 1931–1950Tooke Chair at the LSE
Appointed in 1931 as Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics at the London School of Economics; he lectured there on business cycle theory and shaped a generational dispute with Keynes.[1]
- 1938British Citizenship
Took British citizenship in 1938 and declined to return to Nazi-annexed Austria.[18]
- 1941Preparatory Work on "The Road to Serfdom"
In 1941 he began the preparatory work on "The Road to Serfdom", an analysis of the forms of socialism in Germany and the Soviet Union as well as of democratic socialism as a creeping path to servitude.
- 1944"The Road to Serfdom"
Publication of "The Road to Serfdom" in 1944 in London; the book became a striking publishing success, sold more than 2.25 million copies and made Hayek world-famous.
- 1947Founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society
In 1947, at Vevey on Lake Geneva, he gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world, among them Wilhelm Röpke, Walter Eucken, Ludwig Erhard, Milton Friedman, Henry Hazlitt, Karl Popper, Fritz Machlup, Lionel Robbins and Ludwig von Mises, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1950Divorce and Second Marriage
In July 1950 he divorced Hella and, in the same month, married his cousin Helene Bitterlich.[10]
- 1950–1962Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
From 1950 he taught for twelve years as a professor at the Committee on Social Thought of the University of Chicago.[1]
- 1960"The Constitution of Liberty"
Publication of "The Constitution of Liberty" in 1960, a synthesis of his liberal constitutional and legal philosophy.[11]
- 1962–1968Chair at the University of Freiburg
Chair of economic policy at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg from 1962 to 1968.[12]
- 1969–1977Professorship, University of Salzburg
Honorary professor at the University of Salzburg from 1969 to 1977.[13]
- 1974Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
Received on 9 October 1974 (awarded in December 1974 in Stockholm) the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, together with Gunnar Myrdal, for his pioneering work on monetary theory and on the institutional preconditions of economic order.[1]
- 1977–1992Return to Freiburg
Returned in 1977 to Freiburg im Breisgau and remained there until his death in 1992.[13]
- 1984Companion of Honour
Admitted to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1984 (Birthday Honours of Queen Elizabeth II).[19]
- 1991Presidential Medal of Freedom
Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 from US President George H. W. Bush.[20]
- 1992Death
Died on 23 March 1992 in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Influences
- 1921
Hayek received his doctorate in law (Dr. iur.) at the University of Vienna in 1921 under Friedrich von Wieser, whose most faithful disciple he became (“his most faithful disciple”).
- 1922–1931
Reading Ludwig von Mises' Socialism (Die Gemeinwirtschaft, 1922), which contained the proof of the impossibility of economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, turned him away from his socialist sympathies. Quite soon Mises recognised Hayek's talent and invited him to his private seminar.[1]
- 1931–1946John Maynard Keynes(1883–1946) · Cambridge School
Gradually became the chief opponent of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) towards the end of the 1930s, yet increasingly fell into academic isolation.
- —
mises.org-Strigl-Biographie nennt Hayek explizit als von Strigl geprägten Schüler: „Strigl shaped the minds of Hayek, Haberler, Machlup, Morgenstern, and other future great Viennese economists more than any other teacher." Hayek-Nachruf 1942: „with his death disappears the figure on whom one's hope for a preservation of the tradition of Vienna as a centre of economic teaching... had largely rested."[3]
- —Ludwig Wittgenstein(1889–1951) · Wiener Kreis (Sprachphilosophie)
Wittgenstein war ein Cousin Hayeks; in der Wikipedia-Infobox „Influences" als philosophischer Bezugspunkt geführt.[14]
- 1930–1935
A direct student of Friedrich August von Hayek; in 1935 she submitted her dissertation “The Rationale of Central Banking and the Free Banking Alternative”, supervised by Hayek, at the LSE.[5]
- 1931–1950W. Arthur Lewis(1915–1991) · Entwicklungsökonomie
Lewis studied under Hayek at the LSE in the 1930s.[15]
- 1931–1950Ronald Coase(1910–2013) · Chicago School / New Institutional Economics
Coase studied under Hayek at the London School of Economics as a student in the 1930s.[15]
- 1933
At the LSE, Lachmann belonged to Hayek's closest academic circle and developed radical subjectivism further out of this line.
- 1961–1968
Through his writings and the edited anthology “Logik der Freiheit” he contributed substantially to reviving the tradition of the Austrian School, and Hayek's work in particular, in the German-speaking world.
- —
After Shackle had begun his doctoral thesis under Hayek, he subsequently turned to radical subjectivism and pushed it as far as nihilism.
- 1920–1934
Fellow participant in the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna.[22]
- 1927
Together with Mises he founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, where from 1927 Hayek did “hard pioneering work on the economic base”.
- 1928–1931
Haberler held his courses at the University of Vienna partly jointly with Friedrich August von Hayek.
- 1929–1934
Both participants in the Mises-Privatseminar; at the same time predecessor and successor at the head of the Konjunkturforschungsinstitut (Hayek until 1931, Morgenstern 1931-38).[4]
- 1935–1948
After his studies, a colleague of Friedrich August von Hayek at the London School of Economics; collaboration until the move to Johannesburg in 1948.
- 1947Frank Knight(1885–1972) · Chicago School
Frank Knight belonged to the founding meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947 and took part in choosing its name.[23]
- 1947
Versammelte 1947 bei Vevey am Genfer See 39 nicht-kollektivistische Denker aus aller Welt, unter ihnen Fritz Machlup, zur Gründung der Mont Pèlerin Society. Reihenfolge nach Geburtsjahr (Machlup 1902 vor Hayek 1899 – hier Hayek vor Machlup).
- 1947–1931
In 1947 at Vevey on Lake Geneva he gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world, among them Ludwig von Mises, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.[1]
- 1947George Stigler(1911–1991) · Chicago School
George Stigler belonged to the founding meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947.[23]
- 1947Henry Hazlitt(1894–1993) · US-Libertarismus
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Henry Hazlitt, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947Karl Popper(1902–1994) · Kritischer Rationalismus
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Karl Popper, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947–1950Lionel Robbins(1898–1984) · LSE
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Lionel Robbins, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947Ludwig Erhard(1897–1977) · Ordoliberalismus
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Ludwig Erhard, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947Milton Friedman(1912–2006) · Chicago School
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Milton Friedman, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947Walter Eucken(1891–1950) · Ordoliberalismus
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Walter Eucken, for the founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1947Wilhelm Röpke(1899–1966) · Ordoliberalismus
Gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world at Vevey on Lake Geneva in 1947, among them Wilhelm Röpke, for the founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society.
- 1948–1976
Became a member of the society in 1948, one year after Hayek founded the Mont Pèlerin Society, together with her husband Friedrich A. Lutz; Friedrich Lutz was later twice president of the MPS.[21]
- 1948
Belonged to the Mont Pèlerin Society initiated by Hayek; joined in 1948.
- 1996–2012
Became a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1996, among whose founders and central figures Hayek was numbered (Hayek himself died in 1992, hence only a temporally overlapping society membership, via the Hayek legacy).[24]
- —
Beide Teilnehmer am Mises-Privatseminar in Wien (mises.org Hayek Centenary).[4]
Friedrich August von Hayek in the context of the School as a whole: five generations, their teacher-student lineages, circles and collegial ties.
Show in the family tree →SOURCES ON STATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS36 citations · 5 sources
- [6]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 22
- [7]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 33
- [8]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 35
- [9]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001)
- [10]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 155
- [11]Hayek: The Constitution of Liberty (1960)
- [12]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 218
- [13]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 254 · 2×
- [14]Ebenstein: Friedrich Hayek (2001), S. 245
- [15]Galbraith: Kaldor Remembered (1991) · 2×
- [16]Uni Wien, Biographiedatenbank '650 plus': Friedrich August von Hayek
- [17]Austrian Institute (S. Beig): Friedrich A. von Hayek - deutschnational erzogen, zum Liberalen gereift
- [18]London Gazette, Issue 34541 (12. August 1938), S. 5182 (Hayek britische Staatsbürgerschaft).
- [19]London Gazette Supplement, Issue 49768 (16. Juni 1984), S. 4 (Companion of Honour Hayek).
- [20]Bush, G.H.W. (1991): Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards, 18. November 1991. George Bush Presidential Library.
- [21]LSE History Blog: Vera Smith – A Courageous Woman and Neglected LSE Economist · 2×
- [22]ECAEF: Frauen im Mises-Privatseminar
- [23]Mont Pelerin Society: Mitgliederliste (offizielle Webseite). · 2×
- [24]Roland Baader Biographische Notiz (Friedrich-August-Hayek-Stiftung): Mont-Pèlerin-Mitgliedschaft ab 1996.
Places of Activity
The Books
- Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle1933OriginalEnglish
- Preise und ProduktionOriginalGerman
- Prices and Production, revised and enlarged edition1936OriginalEnglish
- Die reine Theorie des KapitalsOriginalGerman
- Der Weg zur KnechtschaftOriginalGerman
- Individualismus und wirtschaftliche Ordnung1969OriginalGerman
Essays, Reviews, Lectures
- APA
- Friedrich August von Hayek. (n.d.). Edited by mises.at and scholarium. Accessed October 13, 2026, from https://mises.co/friedrich-august-von-hayek
- Chicago
- “Friedrich August von Hayek.” n.d. Edited by mises.at and scholarium. Accessed October 13, 2026. https://mises.co/friedrich-august-von-hayek.
- German historical style
- Friedrich August von Hayek, edited by mises.at and scholarium, https://mises.co/friedrich-august-von-hayek (accessed October 13, 2026).