Ideology and the Evolution of Vital Institutions: Guilds, The Gold Standard, and Modern Internationa

Foreword; A. Alchian.Preface. Acknowledgements. Prologue. 1. Overview. Appendix A.1. Potential Cooperation, Underdevelopment Traps, and the Economic Efficiency of Democracy. 2. The Efficiency Problem, the Distribution Problem, and a Possible Solution. Appendix A.2. The Social Optimality of Narrowly Rational Behavior in Nonconflictual Interactions. 3. A New Interpretation of Guilds, Tariffs, and Laissez Faire. 4. On the Gold Standard: Why Depressions Have Been a Necessary Evil, or How the Economics of Keynes Dethroned Europe. 5. On Modern International Cooperation: Exchange Controls, Hyperinflation, and Costly Social Revolution as Efficient National Responses to Externally Imposed Trade Liberalization. Appendix A.5. Statistical Procedures. 6. Summary, Policy Implications, and a Final Test. B-Appendices (Previously published). References for the Text and A-Appendices. Index.