Volker Fund

One of the earliest financial backers of the Laissez Faire Revival, the Volker Fund, was established in 1947 upon the death of the owner of a successful Kansas City dry goods business. It was administered by his nephew, an ardent... 

Friedrich Hayek and Henry Simons persuaded the Volker Fund to create a position at the law school from which Aaron Director launched the nation s first formal program in law and economics. After the Volker Fund went out of existence, the Olin Foundation became the programs primary funder. Directors courses had a profound impact on a small but dedicated core of law students, many of whom became evangelists for the law and economics movement. The program published the first issue of the Journal of Law and Economics in 1958. Director s successor, Ronald Coase, wrote what became one of the most widely cited articles in law and economics, an essay entitled The Problem of Social Cost. ... 

This work is funded by the EU project POLYCATunder grant agreement No. CP-IP 246095-2 of the European Community s Seventh Framework Program and by the ERC Advanced Grant Novel Process Windows of Prof Dr. Volker Hessel at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. 

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