The Road to Serfdom, The Definitive Edition

 The Road to Serfdom, The Definitive Edition by F. A. Hayek

The Road to Serfdom is a key economic book that is concerned with the intervention of government within society. He is often remembered as a strong libertarian against any government intervention. In reality, he was in favor of appropriate government, but wanted it limited to appropriate levels in areas that the markets could not self-regulate.

Hayek had experience in Germany. The country had significant social programs and was one of the more socialist countries. The Soviet Union also sought saw Lenin and Stalin carry out the communist revolution from the top down. True collectivism only works on a small scale. On larger scales, it requires a leader to "enforce" it. Even German Nazism was "National Socialism". Forms of Fascism are a likely result of socialism. These governments typically endow a few to implement central planning. This substitutes the will of a few for the power of a complex markets. ("Elites" often subscribe to socialism with the hope that they will be able to implement their plans. However, if democracy is maintained, that means that the majority will end up getting the power to implement.)

The book itself is rather short. It had been extremely popular in its day with Reader's Digest versions. This edition includes a significant amount of background material by Bruce Caldwell.