The Progressive Era is generally regarded as a period of extraordinary social, political, and economic change, affecting virtually every aspect of American life. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, American social scientists, drawing on their experiences with the German social welfare system, became increasingly interested not merely in identifying problems, but in prescribing means by which to effect social change. This book is an effort to identify the various influences upon critical thinkers, and to examine their approaches to solving the social problems of the time.

Liberalism is typically misconceived as a philosophy of individualism, which cannot accept that man exists in society and that man's values are shaped by that society. This book attempts to identify the role of community and society in the political and social thought of leading liberal social philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries including John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer and Friedrich A. von Hayek. While differing as to the nature of man and society, each thinker examined holds the basic premise that man is not an isolated creature whose life is 'nasty, brutish and short' but rather that his motivations are dependent upon his place in a social order.

The Progressive Era is generally regarded as a period of extraordinary social, political, and economic change, affecting virtually every aspect of American life. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, American social scientists, drawing on their experiences with the German social welfare system, became increasingly interested not merely in identifying problems, but in prescribing means by which to effect social change. This book is an effort to identify the various influences upon critical thinkers, and to examine their approaches to solving the social problems of the time.

Liberalism is typically misconceived as a philosophy of individualism, which cannot accept that man exists in society and that man's values are shaped by that society.
This book attempts to identify the role of community and society in the political and social thought of leading liberal social philosophers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer and Friedrich A. von Hayek. While differing as to the nature of man and society, each thinker examined holds the basic premise that man is not an isolated creature whole life is "nasty, brutish and short" but rather that his motivations are dependent upon his place in a social order.
Charles R. McCann has produced an interesting work that mixes communitarianism and economics and will surprise and intrigue in equal measure. Students and academics involved in the history of economic thought, philosophy and libertarianism will find this book to be a useful addition to their reading list.

Concepts of probability are an integral component of economic theory. However there are many theories of probability and these are manifested in different approaches to economic theory itself. This text offers a clear and informative survey of the area serving to standardize terminology, and so to integrate probability into a discussion of the foundations of economic theory. Having summarized the three main, competing interpretations of probability, the author explains its fundamental importance in economics, and illustrates this with a comparison of Knight's and Keynes's very different conceptions. Finally, he examines the Austrian, Keynesian and New Classical/Rational Expectation schools of thought.

First published in 1994. Concepts of probability are an integral component of economic theory. However there are a wide range of theories of probability and these are manifested in different approaches to economic theory itself. In this book Charles McCann, Jr provides a clear and informative survey of the area which serves to standardize terminology and so integrate probability into a discussion of the foundations of economic theory. This is illustrated by examples from Austrian, Keynesian and New Classical Economics.

In exploring the microfoundations of economic growth, the contributors to Microfoundations of Economic Growth focus on three subjects that were of profound interest to the great Austrian and Harvard economist, Joseph A. Schumpeter: innovation, technological change, and economic growth. Here economic growth is approached from the vantage point of individual firms and industries. Most analysis of innovation takes place at the firm or industry level, while discussion of economic growth takes place at an economy-wide level. The first part of the volume examines institutions, markets, and entrepreneurs, without which analysis of the firm makes little or no sense. The second part focuses on the firm as innovator, placing heavy emphasis on the role of knowledge formation. The subjects of innovation and knowledge formation are approached from three perspectives: theoretical; industry (case) studies; and empirical (cross section and panel data) analysis. In the third part of the book the action moves from the firm to the ""macro"" or economy-wide level. The volume's unique feature is in combining a look at institutions and the innovative behavior of firms with an intuitively dynamic, macroeconomic analysis, all from a Schumpeterian perspective. The contributors argue that the study of microinstitutions, such as firms and the evolving nature of markets, is necessary for understanding macro-oriented phenomena such as economic growth. It is in this sense, then, that the book is concerned with microfoundations. Sixth in a series of volumes to spring from the biennial meeting of the International Schumpeter Society, this collection draws together the main themes of the sixth meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1996. The society, founded in 1986, is a group of economists who work to promote the scientific study of the problems of economic development and innovation along the lines suggested by Joseph Alois Schumpeter.