Publisher Description

From the $700 billion bailout of the banking industry to president Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package to the highly controversial passage of federal health-care reform, conservatives and concerned citizens alike have grown increasingly fearful of big government. Enter Nobel Prize-winning economist and political theorist F. A. Hayek, whose passionate warning against empowering states with greater economic control, "The Road to Serfdom," became an overnight sensation last summer when it was endorsed by Glenn Beck. The book has since sold over 150,000 copies. The latest entry in the University of Chicago Press's series of newly edited editions of Hayek's works, "The Constitution of Liberty" is, like "Serfdom," just as relevant to our present moment. The book is considered Hayek's classic statement on the ideals of freedom and liberty, ideals that he believes have guided—and must continue to guide—the growth of Western civilization. Here Hayek defends the principles of a free society, casting a skeptical eye on the growth of the welfare state and examining the challenges to freedom posed by an ever expanding government—as well as its corrosive effect on the creation, preservation, and utilization of knowledge. In opposition to those who call for the state to play a greater role in society, Hayek puts forward a nuanced argument for prudence. Guided by this quality, he elegantly demonstrates that a free market system in a democratic polity—under the rule of law and with strong constitutional protections of individual rights—represents the best chance for the continuing existence of liberty. Striking a balance between skepticism and hope, Hayek's profound insights are timelier and more welcome than ever before. This definitive edition of "The Constitution of Liberty" will give a new generation the opportunity to learn from his enduring wisdom.

Author Biography

F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of libertarianism in the twentieth century. He taught at the University of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg.

Table of Contents

Editorial Foreword Introductory Essay The Constitution of Liberty : Editions and Translations A Note on the Notes Editor's Acknowledgments Liberty Fund Editions Cited THE CONSTITUTION OF LIBERTY Preface Acknowledgments Bibliographical Abbreviations Introduction PART I. The Value of Freedom One Liberty and Liberties Two The Creative Powers of a Free Civilization Three The Common Sense of Progress Four Freedom, Reason, and Tradition Five Responsibility and Freedom Six Equality, Value, and Merit Seven Majority Rule Eight Employment and Independence PART II. Freedom and the Law Nine Coercion and the State Ten Law, Commands, and Order Eleven The Origins of the Rule of Law Twelve The American Contribution: Constitutionalism Thirteen Liberalism and Administration: The Rechtsstaat Fourteen The Safeguards of Individual Liberty Fifteen Economic Policy and the Rule of Law Sixteen The Decline of the Law PART III. Freedom in the Welfare State Seventeen The Decline of Socialism and the Rise of the Welfare State Eighteen Labor Unions and Employment Nineteen Social Security Twenty Taxation and Redistribution Twenty-one The Monetary Framework Twenty-two Housing and Town Planning Twenty-three Agriculture and Natural Resources Twenty-four Education and Research POSTCRIPT Postscript: Why I Am Not a Conservative Analytical Table of Contents Index of Authors Cited Index of Subjects

Review

"A reflective, often biting, commentary on the nature of our society and its dominant thought by one who is passionately opposed to the coercion of human beings by the arbitrary will of others, who puts liberty above welfare and is sanguine that greater welfare will thereby ensue."

--New York Times Book Review

Review Quote

"One of the great political works of our time . . . . The twentieth-century successor to John Stuart Mill''s essay, ''On Liberty.''"-- Newsweek

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