It was this flaw in Hayek’s reasoning that caused most economists to desert the Hayekian camp and embrace Keynesian “stimulus” policies. As the economist Lionel Robbins recalled: “Confronted with the freezing deflation of those days, the idea that the prime essential was the writing down of mistaken investments and…fostering the disposition to save was…as unsuitable as denying blankets and stimulus to a drunk who has fallen into an icy pond, on the ground that his original trouble was overheating.”
哈耶克的这一理论缺陷使得大多数经济学家倒向凯恩斯的“刺激”政策。正如经济学家利奥尼尔·罗宾斯回忆的那样：“面对当时那种陷入停滞的通货紧缩，那种认为首先必须处理错误投资……以及推动储蓄行为的理念……就变得不合时宜，就像拒绝给一个掉入冰窟的醉汉提供毛毯和保暖品，因为觉得此人最根本的问题是（身体因饮酒）过热那样。”