Hayek, not Keynes, got it right

The question posed by author Nicholas Wapshott in his recently published book, “Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics,” is: Who prevailed — the renowned English economist John Maynard Keynes, likely the most influential 20th century proponent of government intervention and regulation of economic affairs, or Frederick Hayek, the Austrian economist, who emerged among the leading 20th century critics of both.

Hayek, best known for his 1944 book, “The Road to Serfdom,” and Keynes, author of the monumentally significant depression-era opus, “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” are grist for Wapshott's mill.

Current economic conditions described by A. Gary Shilling in his book, “The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation” (Wiley, 2011), demonstrate convincingly that Wapshott posed the wrong question. The issue is not who prevailed but who, after six decades of experience, got things more right.