Blast from the past: Hayek in Australia in 1976

A couple of nice pieces on Hayek’s 1976 tour. One from the late Ron Kitching, a prime mover in the venture, with a nice photo of Hayek getting hold of Inflation by the balls.

There were complaints from high level “intellectuals”, that the visit was everything from a white washing of dangerous capitalist ideology, a political plot of ever devious Jews, to a “bankers plot”. Hayek incidentally was a non-practising Catholic. Hayek was in great form and he appeared as Guest of Honour on the hour-long Monday Conference with Robert Moore, and televised by the ABC network in all states on October 11th 1976.

In addition, in total he kept no less than 60 appointments, including visits to heads of state, seminar and lecturing engagements. A very heavy schedule for anybody, but at that time Hayek was 76 years of age. He was in scintillating form.

And the transcript of Hayek on Moday Conference, a more civilized version of Q&A.

MAN: In those circumstances, in those circumstances, why can’t you have a social contract with the trade union movement to reduce wage growth, and at the same time maintain high levels of public spending? It would seem to me that there would be no case for your policy of having small Government if at the same time you can get a social contract with the trade union movement to hold down the level of wages that’s occured of course in Sweden.

HAYEK: Because such a social contract completely suspends the mechanism [f]or the adjustment of relative wages which of course is essential for full employment. I mean you need a continuous adjustment of wages relative to the others which can only be done by the market. You cannot politically determine what some wages are allowed to rise and others are not, so social contract produces absolute rigidity of the wage structure …