<p>Eric Maskin has a paper called “<a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/maskin/publications/friedrich-von-hayek-and-mechanism-design" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Friedrich von Hayek and Mechanism Design</a>”, which tries to connect some of Hayek’s ideas to the (formal) theory of mechanism design. This paper, and the references therein, might interest you.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-15T01:49:21.160Z
2018-01-15T01:49:21.160Z
Theoretical Economist
<p>I really struggle to find any sort of formalism (theoretical models, empirical analyses, etc.) in Hayek's own publications. The best I could find is <a href="https://mises.org/system/tdf/Reflections%20on%20the%20Pure%20Theory%20of%20Money%20of%20Mr%20JM%20Keynes_4.pdf?file=1&amp;type=document" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes, Economica, No. 33 (August 1931)</a>, where he talks (mostly qualitatively) through some of his disagreements with the equations in Keynes' theory of money.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hayek.sk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/hayekcollection.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> is a collection of Hayek's more extended works related to theories of price. I encourage you to give it a look over, but the only legitimate maths I could find (aside from some included in the first article I mentioned) is an integral relegated to a footnote on page 231 and a series of tables in the neighboring pages.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-14T21:42:50.460Z
2018-01-15T02:09:08.127Z
2018-01-15T02:09:08.127Z
Kenneth Rios
<p>Hayek's idea, roughly, is that individuals in aggregate have distributed knowledge about their own utility functions and about specific supply-conditions, that no single individual can oversee, and that markets can aggregate this information efficiently, while planning bureau's cannot. </p>

<p>Does there exist a mathematical formalization of Hayek's ideas about this?</p>

<information>
Does there exist a mathematical formalization of Hayek's ideas about information and the price system?
user56834
# Does there exist a mathematical formalization of Hayek's ideas about information and the price system?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-14)

Hayek's idea, roughly, is that individuals in aggregate have distributed knowledge about their own utility functions and about specific supply-conditions, that no single individual can oversee, and that markets can aggregate this information efficiently, while planning bureau's cannot.

Does there exist a mathematical formalization of Hayek's ideas about this?

**Tags:** information

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-01-15. Score: 3

Eric Maskin has a paper called “[Friedrich von Hayek and Mechanism Design](https://scholar.harvard.edu/maskin/publications/friedrich-von-hayek-and-mechanism-design)”, which tries to connect some of Hayek’s ideas to the (formal) theory of mechanism design. This paper, and the references therein, might interest you.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2018-01-14. Score: 1

I really struggle to find any sort of formalism (theoretical models, empirical analyses, etc.) in Hayek's own publications. The best I could find is [Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes, Economica, No. 33 (August 1931)](https://mises.org/system/tdf/Reflections%20on%20the%20Pure%20Theory%20of%20Money%20of%20Mr%20JM%20Keynes_4.pdf?file=1&type=document), where he talks (mostly qualitatively) through some of his disagreements with the equations in Keynes' theory of money.

[This](http://www.hayek.sk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/hayekcollection.pdf) is a collection of Hayek's more extended works related to theories of price. I encourage you to give it a look over, but the only legitimate maths I could find (aside from some included in the first article I mentioned) is an integral relegated to a footnote on page 231 and a series of tables in the neighboring pages.


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