The Pure Theory of Capital (Volume 12)

by Friedrich A. Hayek, Lawrence H. White (Editor), Bruce Caldwell (Foreword)

The Pure Theory of Capital , F. A. Hayek’s long-overlooked, little-understood volume, was his most detailed work in economic theory. Originally published in 1941 when fashionable economic thought had shifted to John Maynard Keynes, Hayek’s manifesto of capital theory is now available again for today’s students and economists to discover.

With a new introduction by Hayek expert Lawrence H. White, who firmly situates the book not only in historical and theoretical context but within Hayek’s own life and his struggle to complete the manuscript, this edition commemorates the celebrated scholar’s last major work in economics. Offering a detailed account of the equilibrium relationships between inputs and outputs in an economy, Hayek’s stated objective was to make capital theory—which had previously been devoted almost entirely to the explanation of interest rates—“useful for the analysis of the monetary phenomena of the real world.” His ambitious goal was nothing less than to develop a capital theory that could be fully integrated into the business cycle theory.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

464 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1941

About the author

Friedrich August von Hayek CH was an Austrian and British economist and philosopher known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought. He is considered by some to be one of the most important economists and political philosophers of the twentieth century. Hayek's account of how changing prices communicate signals which enable individuals to coordinate their plans is widely regarded as an important achievement in economics. Hayek also wrote on the topics of jurisprudence, neuroscience and the history of ideas.

Hayek is one of the most influential members of the Austrian School of economics, and in 1974 shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with Gunnar Myrdal "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena." He also received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 from president George H. W. Bush.

Hayek lived in Austria, Great Britain, the United States and Germany, and became a British subject in 1938.

Reviews

[Emma Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult to slog through. Read it once. Not sure I completely understood it. Am putting it aside to come back to. I read Bohm Bawerk first, and his works made more sense to me than this. I get his argument against a uniform blob of amorphous capital, but I had some trouble following how his writings "explained" interest, which I thought was one of his aims.

[Craig Bolton]

The Pure Theory of Capital (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek) by F. A. Hayek (2007)

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just plain didn't understand it.