Hoisted from Archives from 1982: Letter from Margaret Thatcher to Friedrich Hayek
I would still dearly love to see what this is a reply to.
But I don't think I ever will.
Which is, in itself, very very interesting: it suggests that whatever I imagine Hayek wrote to Thatcher, the reality is worse...
Letter from Margaret Thatcher to Friedrich Hayek (Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality...):
February 17, 1982
Thank you for your letter of 5 February. I was very glad that you able to attend the dinner so thoughtfully organized by Walter Salomon. It was not only a great pleasure for me, it was, as always, instructive and rewarding to hear your views on the great issues of our times.
I was aware of the remarkable success of the Chilean economy in reducing the share of Government expenditure substantially over the decade of the 70s. The progression from Allende's Socialism to the free enterprise capitalist economy of the 1980s is a striking example of economic reform from which we can learn many lessons.
However, I am sure you will agree that, in Britain with our democratic institutions and the need for a high degree of consent, some of the measures adopted in Chile are quite unacceptable. Our reform must be in line with our traditions and our Constitution. At times the process may seem painfully slow. But I am certain we shall achieve our reforms in our own way and in our own time. Then they will endure.
