Hayek on Copland’s W. E. Hearn: First Australian Economist (1936)

Hayek’s brief review of Copland’s two reprinted lectures distinguishes a welcome biographical contribution from an inadequate account of Hearn’s economics. Copland adds to the sparse knowledge of Hearn’s Australian career, but fails to convey the originality, penetration, and clarity that Hayek values in his economic writing.

An appreciative discussion of Hearn's economics against the background of the teaching at Trinity College, and of his influence on later writers, still remains a desideratum.

This sentence sets out Hayek’s alternative: an assessment grounded in Hearn’s intellectual formation and subsequent influence. The review moves from qualified praise of the biography to criticism of the lectures’ use of Hearn to connect historical economics with contemporary Australian thought.

It is to be feared that the present attempt to use him as a peg on which to hang an exposition of the views of a particular group of modern Australian economists will do little to enhance his reputation.

Hayek’s central objection concerns historical interpretation: recovering an economist’s distinctive contribution requires more than making him a vehicle for current positions. The review proposes that task without itself supplying the missing exposition of Hearn’s doctrines.