F.A. Hayek: Economics, Political Economy, and Social Philosophy

Boettke’s intellectual biography of Hayek, organized around the claim that the technical economics, the political economy and the social philosophy are one project rather than three careers. The through-line is knowledge: prices as a way of communicating dispersed information nobody holds centrally, and institutions as what makes that communication possible — which is why Boettke reads The Road to Serfdom and The Sensory Order as continuous with the capital theory rather than as departures from it.

Why it’s on the list: Paired with Mises in the Austrian sub-section: the school stated in its own terms, then read as a single coherent research programme by a modern interpreter.

Where I saw it: Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Austrian School Economics. Shared on X on March 9, 2026 and saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 211-entry transcription, with the four parts and sixteen sub-sections, is on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this card came from.
• Economics — the discipline Hayek’s knowledge problem was addressed to.
• Institutions — Boettke’s organizing category for the later Hayek.
• Epistemology — the knowledge problem that unifies the reading.