Keynes Vs Hayek

In many of the history books that have been written, there is usually talk of two separate entities battling for the highest spot on the ladder of war and economic prosperity. Along the lines of these readings, there is also discussion of the battle against free market and government control. One piece excerpted from these history discussions is the struggle between the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek that arose during the 20th century. Both of these men held large ideas on how a country’s economy should be run. As time passed between the 1900’s and the turn of the millennium, the ideas of these men would lead to the greatest battle the world would then see. Instead of using gunpowder and steel as weapons in this war, much
Economies all over the world were experiencing hardships after the toll the war took on the flow of money and national resources. Keynes took the stance that the more control the government had, the more successful the economy would be. Vladimir Lenin used Keynes idea on government to run Russia’s ideas in politics. He was also where the term “Commanding Heights” came from, because he used it to describe the most important industries that countries own. These industries included oil, steel, and finances (such as land and cash in the national banks). Russia was one of the first to adopt Keynesian politics to run their economy, and after the Second World War, Keynesian view was popular all over the world. This adaptation worldwide of Keynesian view and strict government regulation is an example of one of the crucial times and viewpoints that occurred during the 20th century, which would lead to hardships in the universal economy later
America and the United Kingdom were two of the countries that experienced this problem. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were the leaders of these countries that finally decided on a successful way to run their economies. They both agreed on a basis of free market, taking after the viewpoints of Hayek. Both persons realized that with the restriction of government regulation and spending, their economies could have time to recover and rebuild. This decision turned out to be successful, and soon both countries seemed to have won the battle of being successful in the world economy. This victory was a crucial point in the 20th century, because other countries soon followed suit of the United States and United Kingdom to work on rebuilding their economies to a prosperous and strong state of