Economic Freedom

A vital component of a free society is economic freedom. Herbert Hoover believed that as economic freedom brought prosperity, it would lead to decreased conflict and long-term peace.

Hoover scholars through the decades have continued to advance ideas of economic freedom in their research, scholarship, and policy ideas. Two champions of economic freedom affiliated with the Hoover Institution were economists Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992) and Milton Friedman (1912–2006).

Both Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman were Nobel laureates in economics. Hayek, who received the prize in 1974, was named a Hoover Institution honorary fellow in 1976. Friedman received the prize in 1976, and became a senior research fellow the following year.

Mont Pelerin Society

After World War II, economist and philosopher Friedrich von Hayek observed that socialism was gaining momentum. In 1947, Hayek organized a conference of classical liberal thinkers at a hotel on Mont Pèlerin near Montreux, Switzerland, above Lake Geneva.

His goal was to facilitate an exchange of ideas to strengthen the principles and practice of a free society and to study market-oriented economic systems. For lack of an agreed-upon name, the group called itself the Mont Pelerin Society.

At the inaugural meeting, thirty-six scholars from ten countries gathered: among them were twenty professional economists, plus historians, lawyers, political philosophers, and journalists. Over the years, the society has met biannually at locations around the world, including Stanford University Campus in both 1980 and 2020. Hayek served as its president for thirteen years, from 1947 until 1960, and then as honorary president until his death, in 1992.

Hayek and Thatcher

Friedrich von Hayek’s work greatly impacted economics and politics in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was an honorary fellow at the Hoover Institution, considered Hayek a primary influence for her policies and was in frequent communication with him while she served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Newsweek Column Drafts

Friedman’s Newsweek column ran from 1966 to 1984 and reached a large and diverse audience of readers. Friedman wrote more than three hundred articles for Newsweek on a variety of topics, including the flat-rate income tax, school vouchers, and the privatization of social security. These three drafts from 1966 show how Friedman’s thoughts evolved as he wrote a Newsweek article about legalized minimum wages in the United States.

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