Jamie Whyte‘s superb BBC Radio 4 documentary, focusing on F.A. Hayek, is now available as a BBC podcast.
You can download it from here:
- Yo, Hayek! (Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 8:30pm, 31st Jan, 2011)
(iTunes users can also find the podcast on the iTunes store, for free subscription, if they search for ‘bbc radio 4 analysis’, though it may take a little time to appear.)
I would prefer to let you listen to the documentary yourselves, rather than try to annotate my own personal highlights (such as the mention of ‘factors of production’, the linking of ‘quantitative easing’ with ‘money printing’, or anything stated by Professor Robert Higgs and Steve Baker MP).
Basically, it’s all good.
However, I must just say that I was mightily impressed when the opening section began with the theme of the following video. I would therefore like to thank Jamie for giving me yet another opportunity to embed this video within a Cobden Centre article.
Yes, a very good programme on Austrian economics … any back-story on this critical appraisal of Keynesianism appearing on BBC Radio 4?
Good to see something like this, albeit on state run media. I may be mistaken, but they did not mention Mises (although I did miss the first 2-3 minutes) or the Mises Institute. They also gave the Keynesian side of the argument too much free reign, without really refuting it. Ironically, for an ideology so bereft of logic (Keynesianism), which has led us directly into the current crisis, Lord Skidelsky could not keep his patronising tone in check.
This making it on BBC before the crisis would have been unheard of, I just hope people were listening and willing to understand the Austrian Perspective.
Small moves, Tyler; small moves.
Full-blooded no-holds-barred Hoppeianism is perhaps a little strong for a state-owned body like the BBC, until the day when it is finally privatised and made to stand on its own two feet.
But if it turns just one person onto reading Austrian economics, who otherwise would not have done so, then it is a good thing. They’ll start with Hayek, then move onto Friedman, then Rand, and then finally move onto the real deal with Mises and his Misesian successors. At that point, economic truth will dawn.
One person at a time works for me.