The Austrian economist and intellectual Friedrich Hayek was a victim of cancel culture long before the term entered the political vernacular. Eighty years ago, three US trade publishers rejected his now-classic The Road to Serfdom, suggesting it was “unfit for publication by a reputable house”.

One publishing adviser later conceded that the quality of the scholarship was not disreputable, just its politics. The manuscript outraged conventional wisdom by arguing that capitalism was morally superior to socialism. Excessive central economic planning, even if managed by political leaders and policymakers of good will, would lead to loss of liberty, stagnant economies and downright misery.