Individualism and Economic Order (Hayek, 1948, 2009)

If you are looking to acquaint yourself with F.A. Hayek's perspective on economic theory--beyond his business cycle and monetary studies of the interwar years--this is the best source. The collection appeared in 1947, before he moved on toward broader cultural and social investigations. It contains his most profound work on the liberal economic order, and his most penetrating reflections on economic phenomena:

Individualism: True and False Economics and Knowledge The Facts of the Social Sciences The Use of Knowledge in Society The Meaning of Competition Free Enterprise and Competitive Order Socialist Calculation I: The Nature and History the Problem Socialist Calculation II: The State of the Debate Socialist Calculation III: The Competitive Solution A Commodity Reserve Currency The Ricardo Effect The Economic Conditions of Interstate Federalism

This is a real treasure, and the best evidence for why Hayek must be considered one of the great economists in history.

p.6 there is no other way toward an understanding of social phenomena but through our understanding of individual actions directed toward other people and guided by their expected behavior.

p.6-8 The next step in the individualistic analysis of society, however, is directed against the rationalistic pseudo-individualism which also leads to practical collectivism. It is the contention that, by tracing the combined effects of individual actions, we discover that many of the institutions on which human achievements rest have arisen and are functioning without a designing and directing mind... "nations stumble upon establishments, which are indeed the result of human action but not the result of human design" ...This... great theme... has become the basis of our understanding... of most truly social phenomena.

and which needs will not be satisfied.always involves a decision about what particular needs will be satisfied between present and future consumption," which, as we have already seen, allocation of resourcesp.204 the "