This paper outlines the development of Hayek's account of the working of decentralised economies, focusing in particular on his move away from using the notion of economic equilibrium towards an emphasis on the notion of 'order'

This article explores the notions of order and process to which Friedrich Hayek subscribed. It is argued that a satisfactory understanding of Hayek’s conceptions of ‘order’ and ‘process’ — and in particular a clear understanding of those how the two concepts relate to each other in...

Tony Lawson has long advocated an ‘ontological turn' in the history of economic thought. This essay aims to contribute towards that goal by considering how one aspect of the methodology adopted of a prominent heterodox economist was informed by ontological considerations. The economist is...

This paper compares and contrasts two schools of political economy: the Austrian School, prominent members of which include Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises; and the Bloomington School, which was founded by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. It is argued that the two traditions share a good deal in...

In this paper, we analyse Hayek’s views on endogenous preferences. Perhaps surprisingly in the light of his remarks that economists ought to take people’s preferences as given, there are several places in Hayek’s economics and political economy where preference endogeneity plays a...

This paper is the introduction to a special issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics on the topic of ontology and the history of economic thought. It explains what is meant by social ontology and why ontological issues should be taken seriously by historians of economic thought. It then goes...

This essay introduces the key themes, and papers, in an edited volume entitled, Commerce and Community: Ecologies of Social Cooperation. Since the end of the Cold War, the human face of economics has gained visibility and generated new conversations among economists and other social theorists....

This paper uses the theory of complex systems as a conceptual lens through which to compare the work of Friedrich Hayek and Vincent and Elinor Ostrom. It is well known that, from the 1950s onwards, Hayek conceptualised the market as a complex adaptive system. It is argued in this paper that,...

The term 'emergence' features only infrequently on the work of Friedrich Hayek, and then almost always merely as a synonym for 'spontaneous order'. The argument of this paper is that Hayek's accounts both of the working of the human mind, and also of the spontaneous order of the market, rely...