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Comment by Geee

Hayek doesn't talk about price stability or inflation at all in this article. There's no fallacy here.

This is basically the "prices are all we need" of economics. It's written in historical context when some still economists thought that a centrally planned economy could work. Hayek writes about the price system and how it enables an economy to function in a decentralized manner, and why it can't function without it. Hayek argues that it's essential that the decisions are made with local knowledge, because every individual possesses private and unique knowledge, which is not available to central planners.

On the other hand, all the information which an individual needs from other individuals is transmitted through prices, i.e. everyone only needs to know how to make best use of the prices they see. Thus, there's no need for any kind of oracle or central entity which knows what's going on in the economy to make it function.

This is still relevant of course, in the way that most people don't realize how magical the price system is, and how humans basically just stumbled upon it without anyone understanding it.

parent Geee 2 years ago

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