This volume presents much newly published work by Hayek on methodology of economics, its development as a subject, its key thinkers and its important debates. It is published in corrected, revised and annotated form with a long introduction.

W. W. Bartley, Stephen Kresge

part 1. The economist and his dismal task. The trend of economic thinking -- On being an economist -- Two types of mind -- History and politics -- part 2. The origins of political economy in Britain. Francis Bacon : progenitor of scientism (1561-1626) -- Dr. Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) -- The legal and political philosophy of David Hume (1711-1776) -- Adam Smith (1723-1790) : his message in today's language -- part 3. English monetary policy and the bullion debate. Genesis of the gold standard in response to English coinage policy in the 17th and 18th centuries -- First paper money in 18th-century France -- The period of restrictions, 1797-1821, and the bullion debate in England -- The dispute between the currency school and the banking school, 1821-1848 -- Richard Cantillon (c. 1680-1734) -- Henry Thornton (1760-1815) -- PART IV. CURRENT OF THOUGHT IN THE 19TH CENTURY -- Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850), Jules Dupuit (1804-1866), Hermann Heinrich Gossen (1810-1858).