Collected Works of F. A. Hayek

In the years following its publication, F. A. Hayek's pioneering work on business cycles was regarded as an important challenge to what was later known as Keynesian macroeconomics. Today, as debates rage on over the monetary origins of the current economic and financial crisis, economists are once again paying heed to Hayek's thoughts on the repercussions of excessive central bank interventions. The latest editions in the University of Chicago Press's ongoing series “The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek”, these volumes bring together Hayek's work on what causes periods of boom and bust in the economy. Moving away from the classical emphasis on equilibrium, Hayek demonstrates that business cycles are generated by the adaptation of the structure of production to changes in relative demand. Thus, when central banks artificially lower interest rates, the result is a misallocation of capital and the creation of asset bubbles and additional instability. “Business Cycles, Part I” contains Hayek's two major monographs on the topic: “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle” and “Prices and Production”. Reproducing the text of the original 1933 translation of the former, this edition also draws on the original German, as well as more recent translations. For “Prices and Production”, a variorum edition is presented, incorporating the 1931 first edition and its 1935 revision. “Business Cycles, Part II” assembles a series of Hayek's shorter papers on the topic, ranging from the 1920s to 1981. In addition to bringing together Hayek's work on the evolution of business cycles, the two volumes of “Business Cycles” also include extensive introductions by Hansjoerg Klausinger, placing the writings in intellectual context-including their reception and the theoretical debates to which they contributed-and providing background on the evolution of Hayek's thought.

Best known for reviving the tradition of classical liberalism, F. A. Hayek was also a prominent scholar of the philosopher John Stuart Mill. One of his greatest undertakings was a collection of Mill's extensive correspondence with his longstanding friend and later companion and wife, Harriet Taylor-Mill. Hayek first published the Mill-Taylor correspondence in 1951, and his edition soon became required reading for any study of the nineteenth-century foundations of liberalism. This latest addition to the University of Chicago Press's “Collected Works of F. A. Hayek” series showcases the fascinating intersections between two of the most prominent thinkers from two successive centuries. Hayek situates Mill within the complex social and intellectual milieu of nineteenth-century Europe-as well as within twentieth-century debates on socialism and planning-and uncovers the influence of Taylor-Mill on Mill's political economy. The volume features the Mill-Taylor correspondence and brings together for the first time Hayek's related writings, which were widely credited with beginning a new era of Mill scholarship.

The two volumes of “Good Money” concentrate on Hayek's work on money and monetary policy. Published in the centenary of his birth, these volumes bring forth some of the economist's most distinguished articles on monetary policy and offer another vital addition to the collection of Hayek's life work. “Good Money, Part I: The New World” includes seven of Hayek's articles from the 1920s that were written largely in reaction to the work of Irving Fisher and W. C. Mitchell. Hayek encountered Fisher's work on the quantity theory of money and Mitchell's studies on business cycles during a U.S. visit in 1923-24. These articles attack the idea that price stabilization was consistent with the stabilization of foreign exchange and foreshadow Hayek's general critique that the whole of an economy is not simply the sum of its parts. “Good Money, Part II: The Standard” offers five more of Hayek's articles that advance his ideas about money. In these essays, Hayek investigates the consequences of the "predicament of composition." This principle works on the premise that the entire society cannot simultaneously increase liquidity by selling property or services for cash. This analysis led Hayek to make what was perhaps his most controversial proposal: that governments should be denied a monopoly on the coining of money. Taken together, these volumes present a comprehensive chronicle of Hayek's writings on monetary policy and offer readers an invaluable reference to some of his most profound thoughts about money.

In the years following its publication, F. A. Hayek's pioneering work on business cycles was regarded as an important challenge to what was later known as Keynesian macroeconomics. Today, as debates rage on over the monetary origins of the current economic and financial crisis, economists are once again paying heed to Hayek's thoughts on the repercussions of excessive central bank interventions. The latest editions in the University of Chicago Press's ongoing series “The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek”, these volumes bring together Hayek's work on what causes periods of boom and bust in the economy. Moving away from the classical emphasis on equilibrium, Hayek demonstrates that business cycles are generated by the adaptation of the structure of production to changes in relative demand. Thus, when central banks artificially lower interest rates, the result is a misallocation of capital and the creation of asset bubbles and additional instability. “Business Cycles, Part I” contains Hayek's two major monographs on the topic: “Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle” and “Prices and Production”. Reproducing the text of the original 1933 translation of the former, this edition also draws on the original German, as well as more recent translations. For “Prices and Production”, a variorum edition is presented, incorporating the 1931 first edition and its 1935 revision. “Business Cycles, Part II” assembles a series of Hayek's shorter papers on the topic, ranging from the 1920s to 1981. In addition to bringing together Hayek's work on the evolution of business cycles, the two volumes of “Business Cycles” also include extensive introductions by Hansjoerg Klausinger, placing the writings in intellectual context-including their reception and the theoretical debates to which they contributed-and providing background on the evolution of Hayek's thought.

The Iron Curtain has been cast aside. The Berlin Wall has fallen. Germany has been reunited. And F. A. Hayek's forceful predictions of the inevitable failure of socialism and central economic planning are now rendered irrefutable. Yet Hayek still rightfully cautions us to heed his arguments, warning that "in economics you can never establish a truth once and for all but have always to convince every generation anew." “The Trend of Economic Thinking” captures Hayek's views on political economists and economic history-on Mandeville, Hume, Cantillon, Adam Smith, and Henry Thornton. Framed by insightful editorial notes, fifteen newly collected essays-including five previously unpublished pieces and two others never before available in English-provide a fascinating introduction to the historical context of political economy and the evolution of monetary practices. In a highlight of the collection, "On Being an Economist," Hayek reflects on the influence of economists, the time required for new ideas to take hold, the best way to educate economic theorists, and the need to follow one's own interests, often in opposition to fashionable beliefs. As always, the words of this outspoken scholar are sure to provoke debate.

Produced throughout the first fifteen years of Hayek's career, the writings collected in “Capital and Interest” see Hayek elaborate upon and extend his landmark lectures that were published as “Prices and Production” and work toward the technically sophisticated line of thought seen in his later “Pure Theory of Capital”. Illuminating the development of Hayek's detailed contributions to capital and interest theory, the collection also sheds light on how Hayek's work related to other influential economists of the time. Highlights include the 1936 article "The Mythology of Capital"-presented here alongside Frank Knight's criticisms of the Austrian theory of capital that prompted it-and "The Maintenance of Capital," with subsequent comments by the English economist A. C. Pigou. These and other familiar works are accompanied by lesser-known articles and lectures, including a lecture on technological progress and excess capacity. An introduction by the book's editor, leading Hayek scholar Lawrence H. White, places Hayek's contributions in careful historical context, with ample footnotes and citations for further reading, making this a touchstone addition to the University of Chicago Press's “Collected Works of F. A. Hayek” series.

The two volumes of “Good Money” concentrate on Hayek's work on money and monetary policy. Published in the centenary of his birth, these volumes bring forth some of the economist's most distinguished articles on monetary policy and offer another vital addition to the collection of Hayek's life work. “Good Money, Part I: The New World” includes seven of Hayek's articles from the 1920s that were written largely in reaction to the work of Irving Fisher and W. C. Mitchell. Hayek encountered Fisher's work on the quantity theory of money and Mitchell's studies on business cycles during a U.S. visit in 1923-24. These articles attack the idea that price stabilization was consistent with the stabilization of foreign exchange and foreshadow Hayek's general critique that the whole of an economy is not simply the sum of its parts. “Good Money, Part II: The Standard” offers five more of Hayek's articles that advance his ideas about money. In these essays, Hayek investigates the consequences of the "predicament of composition." This principle works on the premise that the entire society cannot simultaneously increase liquidity by selling property or services for cash. This analysis led Hayek to make what was perhaps his most controversial proposal: that governments should be denied a monopoly on the coining of money. Taken together, these volumes present a comprehensive chronicle of Hayek's writings on monetary policy and offer readers an invaluable reference to some of his most profound thoughts about money.

F. A. Hayek (1899—1992) was one of the leading voices in economic and social theory, but he also wrote on theoretical psychology, including in the landmark book “The Sensory Order”. Although “The Sensory Order” was not widely engaged with by either psychologists or social scientists at the time of publication, it is seen today as essential for fully understanding Hayek's more well-known work. The latest addition to the University of Chicago Press's “Collected Works of F. A. Hayek” series, “The Sensory Order and Other Writings on the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology” pairs the book, originally published in 1952, with additional essays related to The Sensory Order's key themes, including a student paper from 1920 in which Hayek outlined the basic ideas he fully developed in the 1952 book. Rounding out the volume is an insightful introduction by editor Viktor Vanberg that sketches out the central problems Hayek was grappling with when he wrote The Sensory Order and the influential role this early thinking on theoretical psychology would play over the next six decades of his career. The book also features ample footnotes and citations for further reading, making this an essential contribution to the series.

In 1931, when the young F. A. Hayek challenged the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes, sixteen years his senior, and one of the world's leading economists, he sparked a spirited debate that would influence economic policy in democratic countries for decades. Their extensive exchange lasted until Keynes's death in 1946 and is reprinted in its entirety in this latest volume of “The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek”. This volume begins with Hayek's 1963 reminiscence "The Economics of the 1930s as Seen from London," which has never been published before. The articles, letters, and reviews from journals published in the 1930s are followed by Hayek's later reflections on Keynes's work and influence. The Introduction by Bruce Caldwell puts the debate in context, providing detailed information about the economists in Keynes's circle at Cambridge, their role in the acceptance of his ideas, and the ways in which theory affected policy during the interwar period. Caldwell calls the debate between Hayek and Keynes "a battle for the minds of the rising generation of British-trained economists." There is no doubt that Keynes won the battle during his lifetime. Now, when many of Hayek's ideas have been vindicated by the collapse of collectivist economies and the revival of the free market around the world, this book clarifies Hayek's work on monetary theory-formed in heated opposition to Keynes-and illuminates his efforts to fight protectionism in an age of economic crisis.

Throughout the twentieth century socialism and war were intimately connected. The unprecedented upheavals wrought by the two world wars and the Great Depression provided both opportunity and impetus for a variety of socialist experiments. This volume in The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek documents the evolution of Hayek's thought on socialism and war during the dark decades of the 1930s and 1940s. Opening with Hayek's arguments against market socialism, the volume continues with his writings on the economics of war, many in response to the proposals made in John Maynard Keynes's famous pamphlet, How to Pay for the War. The last section presents articles that anticipated The Road to Serfdom, Hayek's classic meditation on the dangers of collectivism. An appendix contains a number of topical book reviews written by Hayek during this crucial period, and a masterful introduction by the volume editor, Bruce Caldwell, sets Hayek's work in context. Socialism and War will interest not just fans of The Road to Serfdom, but anyone concerned with the ongoing debates over the propriety of government intervention in the economy.