Hayek for the 21st Century

Friedrich Hayek, winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in economics, was one of the twentieth century’s most important defenders of free markets and individual liberty. This seminar introduces six of his most influential essays, collected in the Mises Institute’s Hayek for the 21st Century: Essays in Political Economy. Students will explore why intellectuals are drawn to socialism, why the worst people rise to power under central planning, how prices pass along knowledge no planner could gather, what real competition looks like, why “manufactured” wants are still real wants, and how competing currencies could stop inflation.

Each lesson pairs a chapter with a short video by a Mises Institute scholar (Joseph Salerno, Jonathan Newman, Peter Klein, David Gordon, and Mark Thornton) and ends with a brief quiz. The seminar is designed for high school students and anyone new to Hayek’s ideas.

Hayek for the 21st Century: Essays in Political Economy is available for free online in PDF and ePub, and as an audiobook. You may also order a free paperback copy from the Mises Institute.