Jeff Sachs, in Scientific American this month:
Von Hayek was wrong. In strong and vibrant democracies, a generous social-welfare state is not a road to serfdom but rather to fairness, economic equality and international competitiveness.
Bill Easterly, with virtually no choice but to respond in the WSJ (subscription required) last week:
Mr. Sachs is wrong that Hayek was wrong. In his own global antipoverty work, he is unintentionally demonstrating why more scientists, Hollywood actors and the rest of us should go back and read "The Road to Serfdom" if we want to know what will not work to achieve "The End of Poverty." Hayek gave the best exposition ever of the unpopular ideas of economic freedom that somehow triumph anyway, alleviating far more national and global poverty than more fashionable Scandinavia-envy and grandiose plans to "make poverty history."
Just for fun, I tried to find a blogger attacking Easterly attacking Sachs attacking Hayek. Catallaxy and Economist's View were the best I could do. Seems the blogosphere was glad to see Sachs take a little thumping.
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