Hayek was one of the leading voices in economic and social theory; however, he also wrote on theoretical psychology. The Sensory Order, first published in 1952, sets forth his classic theory of mind in which he describes the mental mechanism that classifies perceptions that cannot be accounted for by physical laws. 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.

This edition pairs the original 1952 book 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.

F. A. Hayek (1899–1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and one of the principal proponents of classical liberal thought in the twentieth century. He taught at the London School of Economics, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg.

Viktor J. Vanberg is professor emeritus of Freiburg University and a senior research fellow of the Walter Eucken Institut in Freiburg.

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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.

F. A. Hayek (1899–1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and one of the principal proponents of classical liberal thought in the twentieth century. He taught at the London School of Economics, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg.

Lawrence H. White is Professor of Economics at George Mason University.

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He shared the opinion, prevalent in his day, that Great Britain was underpopulated and observed with regret the immigration to America, believing that the colonies brought Britain no benefits. He thought instead that colonies were too costly to be beneficial, and, as early as 1749, he asserted that the American colonies would seek independence as soon as they no longer needed Great Britain’s assistance. He is one of the few men in England who consistently wrote and preached that the separation of the colonies would spell the ruin of England.

Born of Welsh peasant stock in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Tucker was educated at St. John’s College, Oxford, and became a curate and rector successively at St. Stephen’s Church in Bristol. This led him to take considerable interest in politics and trade, as Bristol was second only to London in commerce in Great Britain during Tucker’s years of residence there. During the greater portion of a long life, he poured out a succession of pamphlets on these matters. He was appointed dean of Gloucester in 1758. He died in 1799 and was buried in Gloucester Cathedral.

This edition (originally published by Columbia University Press in 1931) contains seven of Tucker’s writings, two of which are of special economic interest: “The Elements of Commerce and Theory of Taxes” and “Instructions for Travelers.” In the former selection, Tucker denounces monopoly in all its forms, yet he occupies an intermediate position between the rigid exclusiveness of mercantilism and the freedom of trade of Adam Smith. While he departs from Smith in some ways, it is often said that Tucker’s work anticipates the classic doctrines of the Wealth of Nations, which was written twenty years later.

Other writings in the volume include a remarkable tract on war, which illustrates progressive, pacifistic thought; and a treatise on civil government, written to refute the contract theory of the state. Tucker disposed of the fallacy that one nation could thrive only at the expense of another and condemned going to war for the sake of trade advantages. The original introduction, by Columbia history professor Robert Livingston Schuyler, places Tucker’s writings in their historical and biographical setting and emphasizes what seems most significant in his thought as an economist, a pacifist, an anti-imperialist, and a political theorist.

Throughout the writings in this book, Tucker reveals with striking clearness the process of internal disintegration of the mercantilist doctrine during the eighteenth century, even before Hume and Smith had provided an acceptable substitute.

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E. G. West brings to life Adam Smith’s first years in the bustling Scottish seaport of Kirkcaldy (and recounts Smith’s brief kidnapping, as a baby, by gypsies). We follow young Smith as a student, watch his thought develop as Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow, and enjoy with him the hospitality of David Hume, the Parisian literary salons, Johnson, Burke, Gibbon, and other giants of the era.

West gives us a masterful summary of The Wealth of Nations. Even more significant, West restores to eminence an earlier work of Smith’s, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. “If The Wealth of Nations had never been written,” he asserts, “this previous work would have earned for him a prominent place in intellectual history.” West takes particular delight in using The Theory of Moral Sentiments to rebut Marx’s assumptions about laissez-faire capitalism.

E. G. West was educated at the University College of Exeter, graduating in economics in 1948. He has taught at several British colleges and at Carleton University in Ottawa, and has been a visiting research scholar at the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting professor at the Center for Study of Public Choice, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. West authored several books including Education and the State and Education and the Industrial Revolution. His articles have appeared in numerous periodicals and scholarly journals.

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This book provides a scholarly review and judicious assessments of the experience and theory that bear on the issues of free banking and central banking. Its wide-ranging discussion identifies both the fallacies in the arguments for central banks and the influential fallacies in the arguments against free banking. Vera Smith’s work should play a prominent role in any reappraisal of our monetary institutions.

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Benjamin A. Rogge (1920–1980) was Distinguished Professor of Political Economy at Wabash College. He was also the author of Can Capitalism Survive?, published by Liberty Fund.

Dwight R. Lee is William J. O’Neil Professor of Global Markets and Freedom at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.

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Arthur Pollard (1922–2001) was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Hull in Hull, East Yorkshire, England.

John Blundell is General Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, London.

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