Let's agree not to agree: F. A. Hayek's 'calculus of consent'

摘要

Our paper aims to show that one of Hayek's arguments in support of free-market capitalism - and against centralized planning, a regime of distributive justice and a bargaining democracy - rests on the contractarian criterion of voluntary agreement or voluntary consent. According to Hayek, people can reach consensual agreement on the desirability of a regime, free-market capitalism, whose operation necessarily produces nonconsensual results.