Jesse Larner reads Hayek

After reading Larner's piece in Dissent, I have a strong urge to read Hayek's Road to Serfdom. Larner's article is worth reading in full, but let me just highlight the section where he gives his reasons for reading Hayek:

I try to keep abreast of right-wing thought, so I’d been aware of Hayek for a long time, and aware of his status in certain circles. Recently I decided I should study his work, much as, in my twenties, I decided I really ought to read the Bible. Influential, whether I like it or not.

He moves quickly to offer a summary of his findings:

Hayek was a surprise, in several ways. He’s nowhere near as extreme as his ideological descendants. He admits that there are a few rare economic circumstances in which market forces cannot deliver the optimum result, and that when these occur, the state may legitimately intervene. He recognizes such a thing as the social interest and will even endorse some limited redistributionalism—he goes so far as to suggest that the state ensure a minimum standard of living, an idea that surely embarrasses the good folks at Cato. Politically, Hayek is not the cynic I had braced for. Plainly, transparently—and in stark contrast to many modern conservative intellectuals—he is a man concerned with human freedom. One of the unexpected things in Road is that he writes with passion against class privilege.

Related reading: Will Wilkinson endorses liberaltarianism, a combination or synthesis of (welfare) liberalism and libertarianism.