The theory of international economic order is concerned with two basically different types of human relationships: those that belong to the private sphere of the individual and which are amenable to the rule of law (the "dominium") and those that are backed by sovereign national power (the "imperium"). It is very important to know which fields of human activity are subject, within a given state, to imperium and which are left to the regulating influence of market values and private law.

This volume draws on Hayek's shorter articles for weeklies, and his reviews, as well as academic papers and articles. It also includes a substantial introduction, providing full background and outlining the significance of this period for Hayek's intellectual development. The material is divided into three sections: Hayek's contributions to the famous market socialism debate; Hayek's responses to the onset of war, including his response to Keynes' How to Pay for the War; his papers on the relationship between economic planning and freedom.

In this volume the author provides an analysis of the centrally planned, socialist state economies and their common percentage in the Stalinist Plan introduced in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s. Prybyla first explores the "neoclassical" plan in two variants (conservative and liberal), the "radical" plan (Maoplan), and the Yugoslav experiment (neomarket Yugoplan). He then examines specific countries as their governments search for alternative solutions to the economic problems that plague them. His dynamic presentation of the economic models clearly shows the transformation of the original Stalinist model, reveals the obstacles to reform created by the structural problems that exist within these economies, and demonstrates that inherent deficiencies within the systems must, in time, affect growth and balance.