Like other members of the Austrian school of economics, Friedrich Hayek was a bitter critic of the German historical school, whose members eschewed the study of individual choice behavior in favor of grounding economic theory in higher-level social constructs. Hayek's opposition was methodologically individualist, but he stressed throughout his work that social outcomes, while the product of rational action, are nonetheless generally distinct from the intentions of the actors themselves. Hayek's position is, I believe, quite correct and of essential importance in assessing the value of alternative economic institutions and the role of economic planning in fostering economic growth and ecological balance.