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Why Knight Was (Not) a Conservative Prophet

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Frank H. Knight

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Abstract

The recession of 2008 was not just the bursting of an economic bubble; it was the bursting of the bubble of optimism, dating back to the 1980s, for what the economy can do for human society. It also brought Keynes and his policy ideas back into favour, an evolution Knight would no doubt question were he alive today, as noted in an earlier chapter, Knight had said of Keynes in 1950:

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chap. 1.

  2. 2.

    Where referenced is a matter of some debate.

  3. 3.

    Emmett, Ross B, The Passage from Classical to Neo-Liberalism: Frank H. Knight’s Role Reconsidered (March 6, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1779102.

  4. 4.

    Reflections on the Revolution in France. A Critical Edition (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001), J. C. D. Clark (ed.), to which I am indebted in this précis of Burke’s thought.

  5. 5.

    Essay published in The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot, 7th edition, Russell Kirk, ed. (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2001). Patrick Allitt, in The Conservatives: Ideas & Personalities Throughout American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), highlights the point, p. 168.

  6. 6.

    Conservatism as an Ideology, Samuel P. Huntington, The American Political Science Review, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Jun., <CitationRef CitationID="CR137" >1957</Citation Ref>, pp. 454–73.

  7. 7.

    An argument I put forward in a feature article The Tea Party’s roots are in Aberdeen, not Boston, David Cowan, The Scotsman (30/9/2010)

  8. 8.

    Review by: Emile Grunberg, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1957), pp. 276–9

Bibliography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston College, Boston, USA

    David Cowan

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  1. David Cowan
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© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

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Cowan, D. (2016). Why Knight Was (Not) a Conservative Prophet. In: Frank H. Knight. Great Thinkers in Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46211-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46211-4_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-46210-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46211-4

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