Preface
1. Cost in Economic Theory
Classical Economics
Marginal-Utility Economics
The Marshallian Synthesis
Frank Knight and American Neoclassical Programs
2. The Origins and Development of a London Tradition
Wicksteed and the Calculus of Choice
H. J. Davenport
Knight on Cost as Valuation
Robbins, 1934
Mises, Robbins, and Hayek on Calculation in a Socialist Economy
Hayek, Mises, and Subjectivist Economics
The Practical Relevance of Opportunity Cost: Coase, 1938
G. F. Thirlby and "The Ruler"
Mises' Human Action
The Death of a Tradition?
Appendix to Chapter 2: Shackle on Decision
3. Cost and Choice
The Predictive Science of Economics
Cost in the Predictive Theory
Cost in a Theory of Choice
Choice-Influencing and Choice-Influenced Cost
Opportunity Cost and Real Cost
The Subjectivity of Sunk Costs
Cost and Equilibrium
4. The Cost of Public Goods
The Theory of Tax Incidence
Costs and Fiscal Decision-Making: The Democratic Model
Costs and Decision-Making: The Authoritarian Model
Costs and Decision-Making: Mixed Models
The Choice Among Projects
The Costs of Debt-Financed Public Goods
Ricardo's Equivalence Theorem
Tax Capitalization
5. Private and Social Cost
Summary Analysis
A Closer Look
Internal Costs, Equilibrium, and Quasi-Rents
An Illustrative Example
Pigovian Economics and Christian Ethics
Narrow Self-Interest and Alternative-Opportunity Quasi-Rents
Conclusion
6. Cost Without Markets
Prices, Costs, and Market Equilibrium
Resource Services Prices as Final Product Costs
Market Equilibrium, Costs, and Quasi-Rents
The Cost of Military Manpower: An Example
The Cost of Crime: Another Example
Artificial Choice-Making
Socialist Calculation and Socialist Choice
Costs in Bureaucratic Choice
Index