ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the unifying role performed by personal knowledge in F. A. Hayek’s long-standing contribution to both economic theory and social philosophy, and aims to compare the notions of private information and personal knowledge. If some similarities between Hayek’s notion of knowledge and modern notions of private information can be found, these must apply to those notions which deal with uncertainty on 'endogenous’ events. The chapter examines the perspective offered by some authors in the Austrian tradition, with specific reference to their interpretation of Hayek’s so-called knowledge problem. According to the neo-Austrian approach, Hayek’s theory of the diffusion of knowledge in a market economy is clearly stated in his essays on competition. Hayek’s notion of personal knowledge calls for a more thorough understanding of the contractual arrangements which competitive markets require – a line of argument which is once again the focus of interest in pure economic theory.
