The Road to Serfdom

Daniel Yergin
Edward H. Crane

Edward H. Crane is the founder and president emeritus of the Cato Institute. Prior to Cato’s founding, Crane was heavily involved in the leadership of the Libertarian Party; he worked on John Hospers’s 1972 Presidential bid, managed Ed Clark’s 1978 California gubernatorial campaign, and served as the Libertarian Party’s national chairman from 1974-1977.

James M. Buchanan

James M. Buchanan is a Nobel Prize winning economist widely recognized for his work in the field of public choice theory and constitutional economics.

Leonard P. Liggio

Leonard Liggio was the Executive Vice President of Academics at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a Distinguished Senior Scholar at the Institute for Humane Studies, and a Research Professor at George Mason University’s School of Law.

Featuring James M. Buchanan, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics, George Mason University; Edward H. Crane, President, Cato Institute; Leonard P. Liggio, Executive Vice President, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and President, Mont Pelerin Society; and Daniel Yergin, Co-​author of Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy and Chairman, Cambridge Energy Research Associates. F. A. Hayek, one of the greatest liberals of the 20th century, wrote his classic book The Road to Serfdom to warn against the dangers of postwar socialism. He believed with David Hume that “it is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.” To stem the growth of big government and the erosion of economic and personal freedom that accompanies that growth, Hayek argued passionately for a liberal international order grounded in limited government, free trade, and the rule of law. His message is as relevant today as it was in 1944. Many emerging market countries still have a long way to go before they reach the level of economic and personal freedom envisioned by Hayek, and many developed countries have expanded the welfare state without recognizing the danger it poses to the future of freedom.