The possibility was raised of a position within the Economics Department. The deliberations occurred in the fall term of 1948, only two years after the launch of the Chicago School. The Economics Department, however, flatly refused to appoint Hayek. Friedman, by then an active member of the Economics Department, claimed to have had no say in the matter (Ebenstein 2001, 174), but we find this implausible. Others have noted Friedman's uncharacteristic defensiveness when queried about this incident (Caldwell 2004, 297n10). … The Economics Department welcomed his connection with Social Thought, although the economists had opposed his appointment in Economics for years before largely because they regarded his Road to Serfdom as too popular a work for a respectable scholar to perpetrate. It was all right to have him at the University of Chicago so long as he wasn't identified with the economists. (Nef 1973, 237) Ironically, after Hayek had worked so assiduously to bring about the collaboration of liberal-minded members of the Law School, Economics Department, and Business School, not one of these units could find it in their interest to extend Hayek an offer.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 786