In the last years of World War II, Friedrich Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom. He warned the allies that policy proposals which were being canvassed for the post-war world ran the risk of destroying the very freedom for which they were fighting. On the basis of 'as in war, so in peace', economists and others were arguing that the government should plan all economic activity. Such planning, Hayek argued, would be incompatible with liberty, and had been at the very heart of the movements that had established both communism and Nazism.
On its publication in 1944, the book caused a sensation. Neither its British nor its American publisher could keep up with demand, owing to wartime paper rationing. Then, in 1945, Reader's Digest published The Road to Serfdom as the condensed book in its April edition. For the first and still the only time, the condensed book was placed at the front of the magazine instead of the back. Hayek found himself a celebrity, addressing a mass market.
The condensed edition was republished for the first time by the IEA in 1999 and has been reissued to meet the continuing demand for its enduringly relevant and accessible message.
弗里德里希·奥古斯特·冯·哈耶克是20世纪西方著名的经济学家和政治哲学家，当代新自由主义思潮的代表人物，原籍奥地利，后于1931年迁居英国并于1938年获得英国国籍。他一生从事教学和著述，自本世纪20年代以来，先后执教于奥地利维也纳大学、英国伦敦经济学院、美国芝加哥大学和西德弗莱堡大学等著名学府，主要著作有《货币理论和商业盛衰周期性》（Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle，1928？）、《价格与生产》（Prices and Production，1931）、《货币民族主义与国际稳定》（Monetary Nationalism and International Stability，1937）、《利润、利息和投资》（Profits，Interest and Investment，1939）、《资本的纯理论》（The P...