Roepke's The Social Crisis of Our Time is a series of blasts against the "malfor-mations" of economics: the Nazi and Communist forms of collectivism both come in for severe criticism. Roepke shows the process by which the Western liberal tradition itself makes possible these rebellions against open economic systems. The drive toward social welfare, full employment policies, and the state management of fi scal fl uctuations all lead away from free societies no less than market economies.
Roepke's The Social Crisis of Our Time is a series of blasts against the "malfor-mations" of economics: the Nazi and Communist forms of collectivism b...
Wilhelm Roepke may have been the soundest economist of the twentieth century. He understood the limitations as well as the strengths of his discipline. Economists are often tempted to take the easy way out, by denying reality to aspects of human existence and reducing them to arbitrary and subjective tastes and preferences. Roepke never does this, and this is his strength. He realizes that all of these are legitimate aspects of human experience which must be satisfied in a balanced and harmonious social existence. Nature, sex, religion, beauty, and politics are all meaningful as parts of...
Wilhelm Roepke may have been the soundest economist of the twentieth century. He understood the limitations as well as the strengths of his discipl...
