Hayek originally believed economists should avoid normative and ideological claims

Evidence

In the early 1930s Hayek, too, was reluctant to connect economic analysis to any social or po liti cal ideology. He aligned himself with Robbins’s methodological views, agreeing with his colleague’s argument that economists should avoid claims to normative expertise. His inaugural lecture explicitly praised Robbins for having “so effectively impressed upon us, that science by itself can never prove what ought to be done.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 132

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the later chapters on Hayek’s road to serfdom argument and his embrace of political advocacy — sets the baseline against which that change reads. — connects to: Early Hayek held that economics could guide policy without claiming normative expertise. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 132

Broader Connections

• Early Hayek held that economics could guide policy without claiming normative expertise. #corroborates (0.95) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 132