This issue illustrates how self-interest and regard for others reinforce each other in a free society, then broadens into reflections on the purpose of education and the classical “liberating arts.” Further essays analyze the decline of secondhand bookstores, revisit Ludwig Erhard’s postwar German economic reforms, and reinterpret the Soviet economy as a mercantilist system rather than true socialism. Additional pieces consider KFC’s arrival in China, evaluate the prospects of Gorbachev’s perestroika, and outline market-based solutions to the global debt crisis. The issue concludes with book reviews and the annual index.
