Friedrich Hayek’s Fleeting Foray into 1940s Colonial Development

Herein we examine recommendations made in 1944 by Friedrich Hayek for the Government of Gibraltar, regarding Gibraltar's future economic prospects. In keeping with Hayek's ideas in The Road to Serfdom, he proposed reducing state-led economic planning in Gibraltar alongside proposals to lift restrictions upon the operation of a free market in rents and labour. Hayek's proposals were rejected by both governments in Gibraltar and London because they were not compatible with the economic planning of colonial economies, inspired by Keynes, and provision of welfare systems in the empire inspired by Beveridge, both dominant ideas during the mid-1940s in government circles.