IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v195y2023i1d10.1007_s11127-021-00926-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foucault and Hayek on public health and the road to serfdom

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Pennington

    (University of London)

Abstract

This paper draws on the work of Michel Foucault and Friedrich Hayek to understand threats to personal and enterprise freedom, arising from public health governance. Whereas public choice theory examines the incentives these institutions provide to agents, the analysis here understands those incentives as framed by discursive social constructions that affect the identity, power, and positionality of different actors. It shows how overlapping discourses of scientific rationalism may generate a ‘road to serfdom’ narrowing freedom of action and expression across an expanding terrain. As such, the paper contributes to the growing literature emphasising the importance of narratives, stories and metaphors as shaping political economic action in ways feeding through to outcomes and institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Pennington, 2023. "Foucault and Hayek on public health and the road to serfdom," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 125-143, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:195:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-021-00926-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-021-00926-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-021-00926-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-021-00926-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arthur T. Denzau & Douglass C. North, 1994. "Shared Mental Models: Ideologies and Institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 3-31, February.
    2. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    3. Michael Reksulak & William F. Shughart II & Robert D. Tollison, 2004. "Economics and English: Language Growth in Economic Perspective," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(2), pages 232-259, October.
    4. John Meadowcroft, 2011. "Economic and Political Solutions to Social Problems: The Case of Second-hand Smoke in Enclosed Public Places," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 233-248, April.
    5. Emily Chamlee-Wright & Virgil Storr, 2010. "Expectations of government’s response to disaster," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 253-274, July.
    6. Seung Ginny Choi & Virgil Henry Storr, 2019. "A culture of rent seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 101-126, October.
    7. Christopher J. Coyne & Thomas K. Duncan & Abigail R. Hall, 2021. "The political economy of state responses to infectious disease," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1119-1137, April.
    8. Rizzo,Mario J. & Whitman,Glen, 2019. "Escaping Paternalism," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107016941.
    9. William Shughart, 2006. "Katrinanomics: The politics and economics of disaster relief," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 31-53, April.
    10. Rizzo,Mario J. & Whitman,Glen, 2019. "Escaping Paternalism," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108760003.
    11. Michael Reksulak & William F. Shughart & Robert D. Tollison, 2004. "Economics and English: Language Growth in Economic Perspective," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(2), pages 232-259, October.
    12. Yates, Andrew J & Stroup, Richard L, 2000. "Media Coverage and EPA Pesticide Decisions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 102(3-4), pages 297-312, March.
    13. Mark Pennington, 2021. "Hayek on complexity, uncertainty and pandemic response," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 203-220, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darcy W. E. Allen & Chris Berg & Sinclair Davidson & Jason Potts, 2022. "On Coase and COVID-19," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 107-125, August.
    2. Alberto Battistini, 2019. "Appearances do mislead: Marxist economic theory and the demise of labour theory of value.Part two: Das Kapital au contraire," Department of Economics University of Siena 817, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    3. Emily Chamlee-Wright & Virgil Storr, 2011. "Social capital, lobbying and community-based interest groups," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 167-185, October.
    4. Darcy W E Allen, 2020. "When Entrepreneurs Meet:The Collective Governance of New Ideas," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number q0269.
    5. Coyne, Christopher J., 2011. "Constitutions and crisis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 351-357.
    6. William F. Shughart & Diana W. Thomas & Michael D. Thomas, 2020. "Institutional Change and the Importance of Understanding Shared Mental Models," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 371-391, August.
    7. Giampaolo Garzarelli & Lyndal Keeton & Aldo A. Sitoe, 2022. "Rights redistribution and COVID-19 lockdown policy," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 5-36, August.
    8. Guilherme Fowler A. Monteiro & Bruno Varella Miranda, 2023. "Disentangling the role of the institutional environment in the ownership competence framework: A comment on Foss et al. (2021)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1939-1954, August.
    9. David B. Audretsch & Nikolaus Seitz & Katherine Margaret Rouch, 2018. "Tolerance and innovation: the role of institutional and social trust," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(1), pages 71-92, March.
    10. Meina Cai & Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili & Raufhon Salahodjaev, 2020. "Individualism and governance of the commons," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 175-195, July.
    11. Ilia Murtazashvili & Veeshan Rayamajhee & Keith Taylor, 2023. "The Tragedy of the Nurdles: Governing Global Externalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, April.
    12. Bylund, Per L. & McCaffrey, Matthew, 2017. "A theory of entrepreneurship and institutional uncertainty," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 461-475.
    13. Eggertsson, Thrainn, 1997. "The old theory of economic policy and the new institutionalism," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1187-1203, August.
    14. Emily Skarbek, 2014. "The Chicago Fire of 1871: a bottom-up approach to disaster relief," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 155-180, July.
    15. Bernat Mallén Alberdi, 2023. "How Have Video-on-Demand Platforms Shaped Our Preferences?Endogenous Preferences in a Cultural Market," IREA Working Papers 202316, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Nov 2023.
    16. Peter Boettke & Benjamin Powell, 2021. "The political economy of the COVID‐19 pandemic," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1090-1106, April.
    17. Julia Sophie Woersdorfer, 2008. "From Status-Seeking Consumption to Social Norms. An Application to the Consumption of Cleanliness," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2008-10, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    18. Fernando Toboso, 2006. "Old organizational issues from a new institutional economics perspective. Some introductory remarks," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 21(2), pages 3-11, December.
    19. Paolo Ramazzotti, 2016. "Themes in an institutionalist theory of economic policy," Working Papers 81-2016, Macerata University, Department of Finance and Economic Sciences, revised May 2016.
    20. Zoran Stefanovic, Branislav Mitrovic, 2015. "Revisiting New Institutional Economics: Basic Concepts And Research Directions," Ekonomika, Journal for Economic Theory and Practice and Social Issues 2014-04, „Ekonomika“ Society of Economists, Niš (Serbia).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foucault; Hayek; Public health; Social constructionism; Narrative political economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B00 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General - - - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches
    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian
    • B55 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Social Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:195:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-021-00926-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.