Hayek's Challenge

Friedrich A. Hayek is regarded as one of the preeminent social theorists of the twentieth century as much for his work outside of economics as for his work within it. During a career spanning several decades, he made contributions in fields as diverse as psychology, political philosophy, the history of ideas, and the methodology of the social sciences. Bruce Caldwelleditor ofThe Collected Works of F. A. Hayekunderstands Hayek's thought like few others, and with this book he offers us the first full intellectual biography of this pivotal economic theorist. As Hayek's ideas matured, he became increasingly critical of developments within mainstream economics; his works evolved in strikingand sometimes seemingly contradictoryways. Caldwell is ideally suited to explain the complex evolution of Hayek's thought, and his analysis here is nothing short of brilliant, impressively situating Hayek in a broader intellectual context, unpacking the often difficult turns in his thinking, and showing how his economic ideas came to inform his ideas on the other social sciences. "Hayek is fortunate in his biographer.Hayek's Challengeis a success, and Caldwell proves himself capable of presenting Hayek's ideasin all fieldswith both depth and clarity. . . . Hayek's challenge is worth remembering, and Bruce Caldwell has done a great service by reminding us of it."Jason Steorts,National Review "Bruce Caldwell's intellectual biography of the great Austrian is a wonderful work."Richard D. North,Independent(UK)

Bruce Caldwell is the Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and author of Beyond Positivism: Economic Methodology in the Twentieth Century. He is a past president of the History of Economics Society and the general editor of The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, copublished by the University of Chicago Press.