Hayek's early writings on business-cycle theory and the Great Depression argued that cyclical downturns, including that of 1929-1931 were caused by unsustainable elongations of the capital structure caused by bank-financed investment exceeding voluntary saving. Believing that monetary expansion...

This chapter examines the link between the instability features of a profit-driven economy and the structural changes inherent to that type of economy. Moving from consideration of the profit motive as search and exploitation of price (or cost) differentials, the chapter considers the structural...