Morgan Stanley's Caitlin Long has a piece in the Financial Times about F.A. Hayek and interest rates:
Interest rates are the most important prices in the economy, according to Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek, because they reflect the collective time preference of individuals to consume either now or later. Accordingly, interest rates co-ordinate allocation of capital across the economy by signalling to businesses whether they should invest. Distortions in interest rates can cause "clusters of errors" in which large swathes of businesses unwittingly miscalculate at the same time.
Hayek observed that interest rate stimulus interfered with economic calculations, causing managers to invest in projects that would not otherwise have appeared profitable...If Hayek were alive he would caution businesses to be alert for the formation of new bubbles, especially in long-term businesses in which losses may not yet be fully recognised and price signals may still be distorted.
