Bureaucracy

The worst law is better than bureaucratic tyranny.

Bureaucracy, p. 76

In all countries with a settled bureaucracy people used to say: The cabinets come and go, but the bureaus remain.

Bureaucracy, p. 55

Bureaucratic management is management of affairs which cannot be checked by economic calculation.

Bureaucracy, p. 48

Nobody can be at the same time a correct bureaucrat and an innovator.

Bureaucracy, p. 67

The ultimate basis of an all around bureaucratic system is violence.

Bureaucracy, p. 104

Seen from the point of view of the particular group interests of the bureaucrats, every measure that makes the government’s payroll swell is progress.

Planning for Freedom, p. 48

If you have to convince a group of people who are not directly dependent on a solution of a problem, you will never succeed.

Economic Policy, pp. 30–31

A government enterprise can never be “commercialized” no matter how many external features of private enterprise are superimposed on it.

A Critique of Interventionism, p. 159

They are no longer eager to deal with each case to the best of their abilities; they are no longer anxious to find the most appropriate solution for every problem. Their main concern is to comply with the rules and regulations, no matter whether they are reasonable or contrary to what was intended. The first virtue of an administrator is to abide by the codes and decrees.

Bureaucracy, p. 41

Bureaucratic conduct of affairs is conduct bound to comply with detailed rules and regulations fixed by the authority of a superior body. It is the only alternative to profit management. . . . Whenever the operation of a system is not directed by the profit motive, it must be directed by bureaucratic rules.

Human Action, p. 307; p. 310

The bureaucrat is not free to aim at improvement. He is bound to obey rules and regulations established by a superior body. He has no right to embark upon innovations if his superiors do not approve of them. His duty and his virtue is to be obedient.

Bureaucracy, p. 66

A bureaucrat differs from a nonbureaucrat precisely because he is working in a field in which it is impossible to appraise the result of a man’s effort in terms of money.

Bureaucracy, p. 53

Of course, the bulk of the bureaucrats were rather mediocre men.

Bureaucracy, p. 56

Progress of any kind is always at variance with the old and established ideas and therefore with the codes inspired by them. Every step of progress is a change involving heavy risks.

Bureaucracy, p. 67

Only to bureaucrats can the idea occur that establishing new offices, promulgating new decrees, and increasing the number of government employees alone can be described as positive and beneficial measures.

Omnipotent Government, p. x

The public firm can nowhere maintain itself in free competition with the private firm; it is possible today only where it has a monopoly that excludes competition. Even that alone is evidence of its lesser economic productivity.

Nation, State, and Economy, p. 186

The trend toward bureaucratic rigidity is not inherent in the evolution of business. It is an outcome of government meddling with business.

Bureaucracy, p. 12

No private enterprise will ever fall prey to bureaucratic methods of management if it is operated with the sole aim of making profit.

Bureaucracy, p. 64