The term 'emergence' features only infrequently on the work of Friedrich Hayek, and then almost always merely as a synonym for 'spontaneous order'. The argument of this paper is that Hayek's accounts both of the working of the human mind, and also of the spontaneous order of the market, rely...

This paper aims to illustrate the benefits that accrue from critical realism's sustained, explicit reflection about ontological issues. The paper pursues this aim by examining the work of radical subjectivist Austrian economists as it has developed since the post-1974 revival in the fortunes of...

This paper uses the theory of complex systems as a conceptual lens through which to compare the work of Friedrich Hayek and Vincent and Elinor Ostrom. It is well known that, from the 1950s onwards, Hayek conceptualised the market as a complex adaptive system. It is argued in this paper that,...

This paper is the introduction to a special issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics on the topic of ontology and the history of economic thought. It explains what is meant by social ontology and why ontological issues should be taken seriously by historians of economic thought. It then goes...

Historians of economic thought are paying greater attention to issues of social ontology (that is, to the assumptions that economists make about the nature of social reality). In this paper, we contribute to this burgeoning literature by exploring the hitherto neglected way in which James...

This paper develops a response to some of the criticisms that have been made of G.L.S. Shackle's analysis of human decision-making because of its reliance on a Cartesian account of the mind. It is argued that the basis for a response can be found in the work on theoretical psychology developed...

This paper is a review essay of the latest volume of The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, entitled 'The Market and other Orders.' The paper examines the development of Hayeks' ideas about order, as manifested in the essays collected in this volume. Issues examined include: Hayek's accounts of the...

This paper examines the question of whether social institutions should be treated as possessing the sui generis causal power to influence people's actions. It does so by means of a case study of the work of the Austrian economist Ludwig Lachmann. Lachmann's account of how social institutions...

This paper outlines the development of Hayek's account of the working of decentralised economies, focusing in particular on his move away from using the notion of economic equilibrium towards an emphasis on the notion of 'order'

This article is a review essay of Karl Mittermaier’s 'The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand', first written as a PhD thesis that was submitted in 1987 and finally published in 2020. The essay examines the main question upon which Mittermaier focuses, namely whether the institutional framework...