The revival of laissez faire in American macroeconomic theory : a case study of the pioneers 1. Introduction 2. Frank Hyneman Knight the moral philosopher 3. Henry Calvert Simons author of the blueprint 4. Friedrich von Hayek and the Austrian influence 5. Milton Friedman and monetarism 6. James Buchanan and public choice theory 7. Robert E. Lucas Jr. and new classical economics 8. Conclusion This book provides the definitive account of this watershed and traces the evolution of laissez faire using the cases of its proponents Frank Knight Henry Simons Friedrich von Hayek Milton Friedman James Buchanan and Robert Lucas. By elucidating the pre analytical framework of their writings Sherryl Kasper accounts for the ideological influence of these pioneers on theoretical work and illustrates that they played a primary role in founding the theoretical and philosophical use of rules as the basis of macroeconomic policy. A case study of the way in which interwar pluralism transcended to postwar neoclassicism is also featured