This book developes Karl Polanyi's thinking for its significance in the practice of economics and everyday life in democratic societies, and also treats the life of Polanyi from a perspective that conveys an impression of the man, his times, and his place in the evolution of social and economic thought. Karl Polanyi believed that the greatest threat to freedom was a poorly administered economy. His search for economic and political institutions which reconciled society's need for freedom to develop a moral sense, with the requirements of our complex technological civilization, led him to believe in the possibility and necessity of an economics that was more existential and human-centred. He did not underestimate the significance of livelihood to lives. He emphasized nonetheless tht beyond sufficient livelihood, preoccupation with the pursuit of even more economic wealth greatly erodes the quality of human existence.