Back to Course OutlineGreat Economists: Classical Economics and Its Forerunners
Lesson· Friedrich A. Hayek’s Individualism and Economic Order· 9 of 24
Hayek on Competition and Discovery
Tyler CowenGeorge Mason University
What is competition? It’s often discussed in economics, but we don’t always have a clear understanding of what it means. In his 1946 essay, “The Meaning of Competition,” Friedrich Hayek argues that competition has to do with the discovery of knowledge, specifically how discovery mechanisms uncover information about cost, innovation, and market preferences.