Hayek’s Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions

318 Pages·2015·4.735 MB·English

by  Steven Horwitz (auth.)

Hayekk’s Moddern Familly

Hayekk’s Moddern Familly
Classical Liberalism and the Evolution
of Social Institutions
Steven Horwitz
HAYEK’SMODERNFAMILY
Copyright © Steven Horwitz, 2015.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-44822-4
All rights reserved.
Chapter 6 was originally published as “Heterogeneous Human Capital,
Uncertainty, and the Structure of Plans: A Market Process Approach to
Marriage and Divorce” (with Peter Lewin), Review of Austrian Economics, 21
(1), March 2008, pp. 1–21. Republished with the kind permission of Springer
Science+Business Media
First published in 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-56247-3 ISBN 978-1-137-44823-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137448231
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Horwitz, Steven.
Hayek’s modern family : classical liberalism and the evolution of
social institutions / Steven Horwitz.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Families—Economic aspects. 2. Liberalism.
3. Economics—Sociological aspects. I. Title.
HQ515.H68 2015
306.85—dc23 2015009755
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: September 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Andrew and Rachel.
May your children bring to you the joy and pride you have brought to me

Contents
List of Figures and Tables ixx
AAcknowledgments xi
Part I Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions
1 Introduction: The Family and Classical Liberalism 3
2 Two Sorts of Worlds at Once 21
Part II Capitalism and the Creation of the Modern Family
3 The Family in a World of Poverty 51
4 Capitalism and the Emergence of the Modern Family 79
5 Gender and Family in the Twentieth Century 101
Part III The Twenty-First-Century Family
6 Marriage, Divorce, and the Market Process 137
7 The Family in a World of Abundance 161
8 Why Parenting Matters: The Importance of Play, Risk, and
Failure for Classical Liberalism 183
Part IV Classical Liberalism and Family Policy
9 Knowledge, Incentives, and Parental Rights:
A Framework for Classical Liberal Family Policy 209
10 Classical Liberalism and the Contemporary
Evolution of Marriage 241
Notes 265
References 293
Indexx 303

Figures andd Tabblles
Figures
6.1 Types of human capital 143
8.1 Corner solution thinking 187
Tables
7.1 Labor time cost of Sears catalog goods 163
7.2 Frequency of various consumer goods in households
below the poverty line vs. all US households 164