Wilhelm Ropke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Library of Modern Thinkers is a series of authoritative introductions to the thought of important intellectual figures. Critical yet accessible, they will instruct anyone seeking to understand the central questions of our time.
Wilhelm Ropke (1899-1966) may be the most injustly neglected economist and social critic of the twentieth century. A passionate critic of socialism and the welfare state, Ropke was nonetheless keenly attuned to capitalism's destructive elements and the intrinsic limits of the market. Ropke's influence can be seen in the ascendance of political ideas -- including "compassionate conservatism," which draws explicitly on Ropke's work -- that seek to give the market its due while also recognizing the claims of higher, communal goods.
John Zmirak weaves an analysis of Ropke's economic and social philosophy around the story of the momentous events in which Ropke took part and helped shape. In light of growing concern across the political spectrum about the corrosive effects of unrestricted globalization, Wilhelm Ropke's vision of a "humane economy" has never been more relevant. This volume, the third in ISI Books' Library of Modern Thinkers series, will be valuable to anyone interested in the development of an economics suitable for a just social order.
SYNOPSIS
"John Zmirak provides a fresh and fair look at Wilhelm Röpke. He unearths writings that are sometimes ignored, particularly those relating to international economics, to show that Röpke's "Third Way" compromises neither freedom nor the moral sense. What emerges is a brilliant and complex thinker: a cosmopolitan liberal in the classical tradition who believed firmly in the free economy, sound money, local rights, and the old bourgeois virtues. This book should immediately become the standard treatment of this much-neglected and often-misrepresented figure in the history of ideas.�—Jeffrey Tucker, Vice President, The Mises Institute
"Wilhelm Röpke's life is a story of courage, integrity, and independent thinking. His ideas on the economic role of government—embracing policies to maintain competition and reduce monopoly power; independent monetary policies and fiscal conservatism; the decentralization or subsidiarity of both government and industry; and support for families and a wide range of cultural and voluntary organizations and institutions—are now echoed in political agendas. In many ways, compassionate conservatism starts here. John Zmirak's short intellectual biography is a beautifully written summary of Röpke's life, work, and legacy.�—Michael Watts, Professor of Economics, Purdue University
"If any person in our contemporary world is entitled to a hearing it is Wilhelm Röpke.�—The New York Times
"Wilhelm Röpke exhausted himself offering—to those trapped in socialist-collectivist thought, to those unable to escape such thought, to all those involved in the constitution or glorification of the totalitarian state, to those who have comfortably excused themselves from responsibility and pangs of conscience—words of transformation, offering them once more firm ground under their feet and an inner faith in the value and blessings of freedom, justice and morality.� —Ludwig Erhard, Former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
"The author has done an excellent job in pinpointing to what extent Wilhelm Röpke, in his most mature work, was fired by his first-hand knowledge and experience of the small-scale, directly democratic, and partially corporatistic and communitarian institutions of his Swiss environment. Röpke's twin emphasis, on the one hand on private property rights, individual liberty and self-reliance, and on the other on a social setup characterized by face-to-face networks can be regarded as an antidote against the incipient facelessness of both an atomized capitalistic mass society and a bureaucratic welfare state."— Robert Nef, Schweizer Monatshefte
"Wilhelm Röpke was really a great personality and an important figure in the history of liberal thinking. It was certainly worthwhile to publish a book on him and Zmirak has done a great job. He shows, that Röpke was not only an economist, but also a profound social philosopher. This reconciliation of technocratic economies and human values would be even more needed nowadays than at the time of Röpke. Zmirak shows better than other books on Röpke, that the Swiss social and political system was very important for Röpke's thinking, that many ideas were new only to Germans or Americans, but draw on Swiss history and Swiss experience."— Dr. Gerhard Schwarz, Economics Editor, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
"... a window on the most turbulent decades of the twentieth century, seen through the eyes of Wilhelm Röpke, outstanding economist and social thinker. A tale skillfully retold by a scholar of our times in this very readable account of Röpke's life and work. A pleasure for anyone interested in the economic history of the twentieth century. Röpke's insights into the Great Depression, the errors of National Socialism and, after World War II, attempts at reconstruction and reform have the ring of truth and are of relevance to our times."— Victoria Curzon-Price, Professor, University of Geneva
Wilhelm Röpke is probably the most unjustly neglected economist and social critic of the twentieth century. Exiled by Hitler's regime, Röpke was a passionate critic of socialism and the welfare state who was nonetheless keenly attuned to the limits of capitalism. John Zmirak's Wilhelm Röpke, written with the touch of an accomplished writer and journalist, ably demonstrates that Röpke's humane yet sophisticated "Third Way� economics can play a vital role in shaping appropriate policies to reflect the growing communitarian consensus.
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