Hayek Book Prize and Lecture

"Unless we can make the philosophic foundations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its implementation a task which challenges the ingenuity and imagination of our liveliest minds, the prospects of freedom are indeed dark. But if we can regain that belief in the power of ideas which was the mark of liberalism at its best, the battle is not lost . . ." — F.A. Hayek

2023 HAYEK BOOK PRIZE

The Manhattan Institute (MI) is pleased to announce that Edward Chancellor has won the 19th annual Hayek Book Prize for his book The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2022). Chancellor will receive a $50,000 award and will deliver the annual Hayek Lecture in New York City on June 7.

Chancellor's book, which traces the history of interest from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, through debates about usury in Restoration Britain and John Law's ill-fated Mississippi scheme, to the global credit booms of the twenty-first century, was among five other finalists:

• Hayek: A Life, 1899-1950, by Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausinger
• Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet, by Marian L. Tupy & Gale L. Pooley
• The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World, by Samuel Gregg
• Visible Hand: A Wealth of Notions on the Miracle of the Market, by Matthew Hennessey
• Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City, by Jorge Almazan and Studio Lab

NOMINATIONS

The nomination window for the 2024 Hayek Prize will open in September 2023.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Political philosopher and Nobel laureate F. A. Hayek, author of groundbreaking works such as The Road to Serfdom and The Constitution of Liberty, was the key figure in the twentieth-century revival of classical liberalism. He was also a formative influence on the Manhattan Institute. When our founder, Sir Antony Fisher, asked how best to reverse the erosion of freedom, Hayek advised him not to begin with politics per se but to fight first on the battlefield of ideas. Our Hayek Lecture and Prize affirm and celebrate this mission.

The Hayek Lecture is delivered by the recipient of the Hayek Prize, which honors the book published within the past two years that best reflects Hayek’s vision of economic and individual liberty. The Hayek Prize, with its $50,000 award, is among the world’s most generous book prizes. It was conceived and funded by Manhattan Institute trustee Tom Smith to recognize the influence of F.A. Hayek and to encourage other scholars to follow his example. The winner of the Hayek Prize is chosen from among the nominations by a selection committee of distinguished economists, journalists, and scholars. Past winners include: William Easterly for The White Man's Burden, Amity Shlaes for The Forgotten Man, Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds for Money, Markets & Sovereignty, Matt Ridley for The Rational Optimist, John Taylor for First Principles, Casey Mulligan for The Redistribution Recession, James Grant for The Forgotten Depression, and, in 2016, Philip Hamburger for Is Administrative Law Unlawful?