Arkansas connections made Hayek's work widely accessible | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Arkansas connections made Hayek's work widely accessible explains how Nobel economist Friedrich A. Hayek’s ideas reached a global audience through support tied to Arkansas. The article recalls that Hayek taught at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1949–50 and later co-won the 1974 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. It also cites a 2002 PBS documentary featuring Hayek alongside John Maynard Keynes. A key figure is Walter Scott Morris (1912–1999), a New Jersey-born World War II veteran and Wall Street investor who relocated to Arkansas and helped preserve Hayek’s work. Morris’s generosity supported the multi-volume “Collected Works of F.A. Hayek” published by University of Chicago Press after Morris addressed practical production hurdles. The piece notes Morris encouraged connections with Darryl Francis, who led the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from 1966–1976, and that an interview aired on Arkansas public TV in 1979. It also references CPI falling from 13.5% in 1980 to 3.2% in 1983 under Paul Volcker.