Front Matter

The Pure Theory of Capital

Friedrich A. Hayek

THE PURE THEORY OF CAPITAI~ By the same A uth.or PRICES AND PRODUCTION, 1931 Second, revised and enlarged edition, 1935 MONETARY THEORY AND THE TRADE CYCLE, 1933 (Translated from German edition of 1929) COLLECTIVIST ECONOMIC PLANNING, 1935 (With E. Barone, G. Ralm, L. v. Mise. and N. G. Pierson) MONETARY NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONAL STABILITY, 1937 FREEDOM AND THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM, 1939 PROFITS, INTEREST, AND INVESTMENT, 1939 THE ROAD TO SERFDOM, 1944 INDIVIDFALISM AND ECONOMIC ORDER, 1949 THE PURE THEORY OF CAPITAL BY FRIEDRICH A. HAYEK TOOKE PROFESSOR 01' ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON The Ludwig von Mises Institute Auburn, Alabama 2009 First published 1941 Second impression 1950 Mises Institute printing 2009 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY JARROLl> AND SONS, LIMITED, NORWI CH PREFACE THIS highly abstract study of a problem of pure economic theory has grown out of the concern with one of the most practical and pressing questions which economists have to face, the problem of the causes of industrial fluctuations.