This attractive hardback book is a collection of the English language work of Professor Jesus Huerta de Soto over the past ten years. Most of the articles have appeared in specialist journals, and the main purpose of this volume is to present them together in an organized manner to facilitate comparative analysis and further study.
The book examines the dynamic processes of social cooperation which characterize the market, with particular emphasis on the role of both entrepreneurship and institutions. The authors multidisciplinary approach to the subject is in keeping with a trend in economic thought established by the Austrian School of economics, of which the author is a significant contributor.
The book is divided into three distinct parts. The first comprises three chapters devoted to the study of the theoretical basis for the dynamic conception of the market. In this first part, special attention is given to the analysis of the theory of dynamic efficiency, the essential differences between neo-classical and Austrian economics, and the three-level approach (theoretical, historical and ethical) to the study of social phenomena.
The second part of the book consists of nine chapters which focus on the economic analysis of various topics from an Austrian perspective: the crisis and reform of social security, free market environmentalism, socialism, nationalism and immigration. Also included are two chapters on banking and economic cycles. Finally, the focus shifts to the ethical aspects of capitalism, the proper role of the libertarian economist in the political milieu and the future of democracy.
The third part of the book is devoted to a series of economic history papers which explore the origins of the Austrian School in the work of the sixteenth century Spanish scholastics. The section also contains an assessment of Ludwig von Mises’ economic treatise, Human Action , an evaluation which marked the fiftieth anniversary of its publication.
This wide ranging book will be of interest to those engaged with the study of Austrian Economics, economic methodology, the theory of banking and economic cycles, and the history of economic thought.
2009, Published by Routledge, Routledge Foundations of the Market Economy, ISBN 978 0 415 42769 2, 366pp, HB