Friedrich Hayek ranks along with Milton Friedman as the iconic spokesman for so-called “free market” economics. His influence extends wider than many socialists have been willing to recognize; in fact, well beyond what can be described as "conservative intellectuals." Amartya Sen, John Roemer, David Schweikhart, Geoffrey Hodgson, Alec Nove, Vaclav Havel and Margaret Thatcher have all used his theory, in one way or another, as a stick to beat down the possibility that anything other than economies based upon private enterprise combined with markets can furnish a high standard of living in a complex, industrialized society. His ideas have not only had a strong impact on a wide spectrum of intellectuals, and corporate and political elites but he also has a vocal "grassroots" following that arguably dwarfs any left movement. This kind of intellectual dominance does have an unidentified influence on general patterns of thinking. Two of his most famous anti-socialist polemics, The Road to Serfdom and The Fatal Conceit, were accessibly written texts for mass audiences.

Since so many of his acolytes remain blissfully ignorant of the many critiques of his work by radical economists and social scientists, the presentation of a selected bibliography of works criticizing his views across a wide span of subject by a disparate contingent of authors seems overdue.