In a relatively wealthy society, Hayek acknowledged, 'some minimum of food, shelter, and clothing, sufficient to preserve health and capacity to work, can be assured to everybody'; but security against 'undeserved loss' can never be. Although we may sympathise with someone who finds all his hopes disappointed through no fault of his own, he argued, we cannot remedy his situation without destroying the competitive market order. The risk of such loss was necessary to discipline individuals to submit to the market order and adapt themselves to its imperatives. To compensate those whose risks do not pay off would interfere with the feedback mechanism through which the market directs our activities where they are most needed. Hayek contended that the discipline of the market could only be escaped by a retreat to the security of the barracks.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 209