Book Reviews: The Foundation of Economics: History and Theory in the Analysis of Economic Reality. By WALTER EUCKEN. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1951. Pp. 358. $4.75.)

• Date: 01 December 1952
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500425
• Author: Emil Kauder
• Subject Matter: Articles

680
generally to all communistic groups, greater attention to practices else-
where would have been advisable. His use of the reports of the Tenney
and Dies Committees does not appear in all instances to be discriminating.
The author’s style is prolix. His conclusions are not always sub-
stantiated by the evidence introduced, nor are they always profound.
After thirty-three pages of analysis in Chapter 7, Professor Selznick sum-
marizes his material in a general rule: &dquo;Under conditions of political com-
bat, those who have no firm values of their own become the instruments
of the values of others.&dquo; The omission of an attempt to determine reasons
why the Communists’ use of their organizational weapons have met with
such meager success in this country is regrettable.
WILLIAM L. STRAUSS.
Long Beach State College.
The Foundation of Economics: History and Theory in the Analysis of
Economic Reality. By WALTER EUCKEN. (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press. 1951. Pp. 358. $4.75.)
Walter Eucken, the author of this work, was one of the outstanding
German economists. In his youth he was one of the few who analyzed
correctly the real reason for German inflation between 1919 and 1924.
In his later years he tackled with originality the problems of business
cycles, the forms of competition, and the results of state intervention.
In all his works he showed a rare combination of empirical observation
and theoretical penetration. He was one of the courageous men who dared
to criticize the Hitler economy. This criticism went far beyond the eco-
nomic realm; it became a defense of personal freedom, that freedom which
is the political credo of German idealism as well as of Protestant
Christianity. His early death deprived Germany of a great scholar and a
great man.
In his last thought-provoking work, The Foundation off Economics,
he presents a new approach to economic science. Like the methodologists
before him he had to struggle with the great alternative of social...