Hayek Medal for Professor Geoff Brennan

Geoff Brennan, Professor of Philosophy in the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious Hayek Medal. 

The medal is awarded by the German Hayek Society for academic distinction in fields of study connected to the work of Nobel Laureate economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek.

Professor Brennan received the honour for his academic and research career in economics, political science and philosophy, and, in particular, his collaboration with Nobel Laureate James Buchanan in the 1980s on the books The Power to Tax and The Reason of Rules.

“To be honest, I haven't been myself hugely influenced by Hayek's work,” Professor Brennan says.

“I was much more directly influenced by Buchanan - partly because he began as a public economics person as I did, and partly because of our collaborations. But Buchanan and Hayek shared the classical liberal perspective; they were fellow-members of the Mt Pelerin society (which Hayek founded); and they both had a tendency to range broadly across the social sciences and to be concerned with a wider range of social institutions than is typical of economists.”

Professor Brennan says he is honoured to receive the Hayek Medal, for both the association with Hayek himself and the distinguished list of prior medal recipients, which includes two Nobel Laureates in Economics - Gary Becker (2003) and Vernon Smith (2008).

He observes he’s not the first antipodean to receive the medal, however.

“The German Hayek Society usually give two such awards each year - one to a scholar, and one to someone in public life. Roger Douglas, New Zealand Labour Party Treasurer and architect of the New Zealand 'free market reforms' in the late 1990s, received the medal about a decade ago.

“It's flattering to be able to nurture the illusion - even for a brief moment - that one might conceivably be in that league. But of course we academics do not have that kind of impact on the world, and probably most of us don't see that as being our role. We are peddlers of ideas rather than movers and shakers.”

Professor Brennan will be presented the medal at a ceremony in Freiburg, Germany in June.