viii IntroductionSome linkages among the chosen articles may not be immediately
obvious. But, for example, “Free Will and Ethics” and “Uchronia, or
Alternative History” both illuminate the chance aspects of life. So doing,
both bear on political philosophy (as on the role of luck in personal sta-
tus). Both also underline the difficulty of pinpointing the supposed “deep
parameters” of the economy and so to making quantitative predictions, as
opposed to what F.A. Hayek (ȀȈȅȆ) called “pattern predictions.” (Far be it
from me, however, to say that the necessary achievements of the econo-
metricians are forever downright impossible.)
About half of the articles deal with economics in particular. “Ļe
Debate about the Efficiency of a Socialist Economy” and “Ļe Debate
Over Calculation and Knowledge” are among them. Ļe latter chapter
summarizes points made more fully in my “Mises and Hayek on Calcula-
tion and Knowledge,”Review of Austrian EconomicsȆ, no.ȁ,ȀȈȈȃ, and in
the ensuing debate with Joseph Salerno, Guido Hülsmann, Jeffrey Her-
bener, and Hans-Hermann Hoppe inȀȈȈȅandȀȈȈȆissues of thatReview.
Ļat debate runs to too many pages for inclusion here (see theReview’s
issues ofȀȈȈȃ,ȀȈȈȅ, andȀȈȈȆ, online at the Mises Institute’s website).
My “Austrian Economics, Neoclassicism, and the Market Test,” chap-
terȅ, also provoked controversy, specifically from David Laband and Rob-
ert Tollison in theQuarterly Journal of Austrian EconomicsȂ, no.Ȁ, Spring
ȁǿǿǿ. Ļe reader should read their article (at the Mises Institute’s website)
along with or before reading my reply in chapterȆ.
Chapters on “Macroeconomics and Coordination,” “Ļe Keynesian
Heritage in Economics,” “Hutt and Keynes,” and “Ļe Image of the
Gold Standard” deal with money-macro topics. Ļe last two of the
Economics chapters concern methodology or, rather, countermethodol-
ogy: they advise against being intimidated by narrow methodological
preaching.
Several chapters in the Politics and Philosophy section examine the
merits and demerits of democratic government. Two of them are book
reviews. One of the books treats the American political system realistically.
Ļe other takes the George Stigler/Earl Ļompson line that—if I may
exaggerate just a bit—whatever institution exists must be optimal or at
least satisfactory; otherwise it would already have been replaced. Other
chapters in the section deal with political philosophy.
Most chapters are reprinted with only slight editing, particularly to
standardize the system of references. Chapterȇhas been expanded (and
renamed) to take account of developments in the fifteen years since it first