Now, this is interesting. Supachai Panitchpakdi, director general of the World Trade Organization, was asked by USA Today what five books he would want on a deserted island. He lists a book on chess, one by a communist, one by a social democrat, Sophie’s Choice, and: the new Bruce Caldwell book Hayek’s Challenge. The paper comments that Hayek was “an avant-garde Austrian economist” and ”a controversial figure who criticized both socialism and Keynesian economics in their heyday.” But the paper doesn’t take the last choice very seriously: “Supachai has forgotten the name of the book, and he admits he hasn’t yet finished it.” In case any, this could be good for sales, which is all to the good.
