F. A. Hayek (Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers)

Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, was an influential economist and political philosopher. The increased attention he received in the late 20th century with the rise of conservatism in the US and UK, led him to publish "Why I Am Not a Conservative," an essay in which he berated conservatism. He preferred to be identified as what Edmund Burke called an "Old Whig." Amongst his most important contributions are his writings on general equilibrium, central planning and social justice as well as his political theory work, The Constitution of Liberty, in which he explained the proper role of the government.