Acknowledgments

Dedicated to Professor Israel Kirzner, on the occasion of his retirement from economics.

My deepest gratitude to my wife, Elen, for her support and forbearance during the many hours it took to complete this book.

Special thanks to Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, for conceiving of this project, and having enough faith in me to put it in my hands.

Thanks to Jonathan Erickson of Dr. Dobb’s Journal for permission to use my Dr. Dobb’s online op-eds, “Just What Is Superior Technology?” as the basis for Chapter 16, and “Those Damned Bugs!” as the basis for part of Chapter 14.

Thanks to Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute for permission to use his phrase, “social justice, rightly understood,” as the title for Part 4 of the book.

Thanks to Professor Mario Rizzo for kindly inviting me to attend the NYU Colloquium on Market Institutions and Economic Processes.

Thanks to Robert Murphy of Hillsdale College for his frequent collaboration, including on two parts of this book, and for many fruitful discussions.

Thanks to the many commentators on the book (and sections of it as they appeared in article form), whose efforts improved this book tremendously and drove me to greater precision and clarity of expression. These include Walter Block (Loyola University), Peter Boettke (George Mason University), Sam Bostaph (University of Dallas), Colin Colenso (Shanghai, China), Harry David (New Haven, Conn.), Brian Doherty (Reason), Richard Ebeling (Hillsdale College), Roger Garrison (Auburn University), Jeffrey Herbener (Grove City College), Sanford Ikeda (SUNY Purchase), Stephan Kinsella (Houston, Texas), Peter Lewin (University of Texas at Dallas), Stan Liebowitz (University of Texas at Dallas), Jeanne Locklair (Laboratory Institute of Merchandising), Marcel Popescu (Romania), Joseph Salerno (Pace University), Jeff Scott (Wells Fargo), Glen Tenney (Great Basin College), Jeff Tucker (Mises Institute), Christopher Westley (Jacksonville State University), Rich Wilcke (University of Louisville), Marco de Wit (University of Turku), James Yohe (University of West Florida), Sean Callahan (my brother), and my parents, Eugene and Patricia Callahan.

Any errors that remain are, of course, entirely mine.

Thanks to Pete Kavall, for teaching me what science is, and to Chogyam Trungpu and Tarthang Tulku, for continuing inspiration.