Acknowledgements

Three institutions assisted me while I wrote this treatise. As a Heisenberg Scholar I enjoyed the most generous financial support from the German Science Foundation (DFG) from 1982 through 1986. The present study is the most recent work I completed during this period. Additional support came from the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center for Advanced International Studies, where I spent the academic year 1984-1985 as a Visiting Professor. The lectures delivered there provided the core of what is presented here. Finally, during the academic year 1985/86, when my research took on its present form and which I spent in New York City, I received the most unbureaucratic and cordial help from the Center for Libertarian Studies.

My deepest gratitude is to my teacher and friend Murray N. Rothbard. To his scholarly and personal example I owe more than I can property express. He read an earlier draft of the study and provided me with invaluable comments. Innumerous discussions with him were a never ending source of inspiration and his enthusiasm was a constant encouragement.

To these people and institutions I owe a sincere “thank you.”