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
2024 HAYEK BOOK PRIZE
The Manhattan Institute is currently gathering nominations for our Hayek Prize, which will honor the book published between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023 that best reflects F.A. Hayek's vision of economic and individual liberty. The winner of the Hayek Prize will be given a $50,000 cash award and asked to deliver our annual Hayek Lecture. Nominations are due Friday, December 22, 2023.
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
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?
PAST HAYEK PRIZE WINNERS
2023: Edward Chancellor, The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
2022: Joseph Henrich, The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
2021: Thomas Sowell, Charter Schools and Their Enemies
2020: Alberto Alesina, Carlo Favero, and Francesco Giavazzi, Austerity: When It Works and When It Doesn’t
2019: Douglas A. Irwin, Clashing over Commerce
2018: John F. Cogan, The High Cost of Good Intentions
2017: Deirdre McCloskey, The Bourgeois Trilogy
2016: Philip Hamburger, Is Administrative Law Unlawful?
2015: James Grant, The Forgotten Depression 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself
2014: Casey Mulligan, The Redistribution Recession: How Labor Market Distortions Contracted the Economy
2013: Yang Jisheng, Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962
2012: John B. Taylor, First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America's Prosperity
2011: Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
2010: Benn Steil, Manuel Hinds, Money, Markets and Sovereignty
2009: Amity Shales, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
2008: William Easterly, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
2007: John Tomasi, Liberalism Beyond Justice: Citizens Society and the Boundaries of Political Theory
2006: Lord Robert Skidelsky, The Road from Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism
2005: Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism