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Good Money, Part II: The Standard (Collected Works of F. A. Hayek) (Pt. II)

This complementary volume provides five additional essays to expand our understanding of Hayek's ideas about money and monetary policy. Good Money, Part II: The Standard investigates the consequences of the "predicament of composition" which led to one of Hayek's most controversial proposals: that governments should be denied a monopoly on the coining of money.

F. A. Hayek (1899–1992) was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1974 and the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and was one of the leading Austrian economists and political philosophers of the twentieth century.

Stephen Kresge was the General Editor of The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek until his retirement in 2002.

Financial District, Downtown Manhattan, New York City, New York

The Standard Oil Building, largely erected between 1921 and 1926 and finally completed in 1928, incorporates the company's original building (built in 1884-85 and enlarged in 1895). Designed by Thomas Hastings of the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings, with Shreve, Lamb & Blake as associated architects, the building is notable for its distinctive tower, one of the southernmost spires in the Manhattan skyline, and the sweeping curve of the Broadway facade, which is punctuated by the arched openings of the main entrance portal and flanking large windows that dominate the street wall as it fronts Bowling Green. The irregular pentagonal site, one of the largest parcels assembled in lower Manhattan to that time, dictated both the building's distinctive shape and complicated construction history. The powerful sculptural massing and arresting silhouette of the Standard Oil Building represent the new set-back skyscraper forms that emerged during the early 1920s. Limestone curtain walls facing Broadway, Beaver Street, and New Street are enriched with large-scale neo- Renaissance ornamentation that enhance the building's picturesque quality. The building, erected as Standard Oil approached its fiftieth year of operation, reinforced the presence of the oil industry giant in the heart of New York City's financial and shipping center. From the headquarters building at No. 26 Broadway, John D. Rockefeller's associates directed the Standard Oil Company that monopolized the American oil industry, endured a sensational anti-trust decision, and retained a dominant role in the international oil business. Although Standard Oil's successor firm sold the structure in 1956, the building at No. 26 Broadway has remained a prominent address in lower Manhattan.

The Architects

The Standard Oil Building was designed in 1920 by Thomas Hastings (1860-1929) of the architectural firm of Carre re & Hastings, with that firm's members, Shreve, Lamb & Blake, serving as associated architects. These architects — a group of the most respected tall building designers in New York City during the 1920s — brought various types of expertise to the project which are evident in the completed building. The firm of Carrere & Hastings had gained wide acclaim with its winning design for the New York Public Library in 1897 (constructed 1902-11) and subsequently enjoyed a wide-ranging practice; many of the firm's buildings in New York City, including the New York Public Library, are designated New York City Landmarks. By 1920, Thomas Hastings, the surviving partner of the firm of Carrere & Hastings, had developed a personal, Beaux-Arts-inspired approach to the design of the masonry envelope of steel-framed structures, and was exploring innovative solutions to the massing of tall buildings in response to the setback requirements of the New York City Building Zone Resolution adopted in 1916. Hastings considered the skeleton frame and the exterior sheathing as separate entities with different functions; the first supported the structure while the second enclosed it. His designs for the curtain walls of the Blair Building (24 Broad Street, 1902, no longer standing) and the United States Rubber Building (Broadway and West 58th Street, 1912-13) were for thin, veneer-like masonry facing, designed for architectural impact rather than to convey a sense of structure; that design approach was at odds with the more structural, expressive style advocated by other tall building designers working in New York City, including Pierre LeBrun, George B. Post, and Bruce Price. Hastings was a consulting architect in the design of the Cunard Building (25 Broadway, 1917-21), and his hand is evident in the massing and facade of the building, either through Hastings' influence on Benjamin Wistar Morris, a former member of the firm of Carrere & Hastings, or an active role in the project. Carrere & Hastings designed two other tall buildings of note, the Liggett Building (at the northeast corner Madison Avenue and East 42nd Street, no longer standing, 1919-20) and the Fisk Building (250 West 57th Street, 192021); both buildings have distinctive massing with pavilions of uniform setback rising above large bases, and are clad with thin masonry walls detailed to unite the two main portions of the building and add to their pictorial qualities. The Standard Oil Building is a culminating example of the firm's tall building commissions, incorporating even more complex massing, a varied limestone curtain wall, and bold sculptural elements at the upper stories meant to enhance distant views of the building.

At the time of the Standard Oil Building commission, Richmond H. Shreve (1877-1946), William F. Lamb (1883-1952), and Theodore Blake (1870-1949) were partners at Carrere & Hastings. Shreve and Lamb (with various associates before Arthur L. Harmon joined the firm in 1929) established a

The concept for the McLaren F1 began in 1988, when McLaren's top brass and designer Gordon Murray decided to use what they'd learned in Formula 1 racing to build a roadgoing supercar -- regardless of cost. The results of their brainstorm, the first car to use a carbon fiber chassis, debuted as a prototype during the 1992 Formula 1 race weekend in Monaco. Interested buyers could order a McLaren F1 built to their specifications -- and wait another two years for it to be hand-built and delivered.
According to many of the car mags at the time, anyway. The McLaren F1 had a 6.1-liter V12 engine with four valves per cylinder built by BMW. It kicked out 631 hp and had 479 lb-ft of torque on tap. But the F1's carbon body meant it only weighed 2500 lbs, meaning it only had to haul 4 pounds for every 1 horsepower. This gave it a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds and top speed of 231 mph -- a roadgoing record that the F1 held for a decade, until the Koenigsegg CCR hit 245 mph.
The McLaren F1 put the driver front and center--literally. The driver sat in the middle of the car, with two passenger seats on either side and little behind him. The driver's seat was fashioned to order for each owner, and the steering wheel was positioned according to his preferences. The carbon-fiber body was new (and expensive), but the F1 was also the first to incorporate active ground effects with underbody fans that created downforce--negating the need for the more modern all-wheel drive.
Little Things Mean a Lot:
Though it was built for speed, comfort was not neglected. Luggage compartments ran along the sides of the car, and the available fitted luggage sets included a golf bag. Air conditioning, remote keyless entry, a Kenwood stereo, and a modem for connecting to McLaren HQ were all standard -- even in the mid-90s. Owners also received a Tag Heuer watch with their car's production number engraved on the face and a set of gold-plated titanium Facom tools in a full-sized rolling tool chest.
From 1994 to 1998, McLaren produced 107 total F1s, 65 of which were street cars sold to customers. Depending on the exchange rate between dollars and British pounds, the car cost about one cool million when it was new. In 1995, the F1 scored a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and to commemorate the event McLaren built five LM edition F1s. These extremely rare cars have 691 hp, more downforce, improved handling, larger radiators, and a more open exhaust system.

The two volumes of Good Money concentrate on Hayek's work on money and monetary policy. Published in the centenary of his birth, these volumes bring forth some of the economist's most distinguished articles on monetary policy and offer another vital addition to the collection of Hayek's life work.

Good Money, Part I: The New World includes seven of Hayek's articles from the 1920s that were written largely in reaction to the work of Irving Fisher and W. C. Mitchell. Hayek encountered Fisher's work on the quantity theory of money and Mitchell's studies on business cycles during a U.S. visit in 1923-24. These articles attack the idea that price stabilization was consistent with the stabilization of foreign exchange and foreshadow Hayek's general critique that the whole of an economy is not simply the sum of its parts.

Good Money, Part II: The Standard offers five more of Hayek's articles that advance his ideas about money. In these essays, Hayek investigates the consequences of the "predicament of composition." This principle works on the premise that the entire society cannot simultaneously increase liquidity by selling property or services for cash. This analysis led Hayek to make what was perhaps his most controversial proposal: that governments should be denied a monopoly on the coining of money.

Taken together, these volumes present a comprehensive chronicle of Hayek's writings on monetary policy and offer readers an invaluable reference to some of his most profound thoughts about money.

"Each new addition to The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, the University of Chicago's painstaking series of reissues and collections, is a gem."— Liberty on Volume IX of The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek

"Intellectually [Hayek] towers like a giant oak in a forest of saplings."—Chicago Tribune

"One of the great thinkers of our age who . . . revolutionized the world's intellectual and political life."—Former President George Herbert Walker Bush

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