“A return to Austrian School tenets, both in capital theory and in monetary theory, and also in business-cycle theory, is absolutely needed.” The Stock Market, Credit and Capital Formation by Fritz Machlup (1931, 1940): translated from a revised version of the German edition by Vera C. Smith (a pdf file). Read an interview with Machlup in the
The Origin of Economic Theory: A Portrait of Richard Cantillon (1680–1734) Many crucial Austrian insights have been found in the economics of Irish banker Richard Cantillon (1680–1734) and his lone surviving publication, Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General . It seems clear that Cantillon was an important influence on the development of
“The theory of capital lacks a simple dimension for the measurement of its subject matter. To some minds this makes it all the more attractive.” Introduction: his life and work Ludwig Lachmann was a very unusual man. If you ever met him you would never forget him. He left a lasting impression. He was unfailingly gracious and considerate, a man
The prehistory the Austrian School of economics can be found in the works of the Spanish scholastics written in what is known as the “Spanish Golden Century,” which ran from the mid- sixteenth century through the seventeenth century. Who were these Spanish intellectual forerunners of the Austrian School of economics? Most of them were scholastics
The 1920s and 1930s were a glorious era in the history of the Austrian School of economics. In those days, the city of Vienna saw the first genuine culture of scholars working in the tradition established by Carl Menger, and this culture radiated throughout the rest of the German-speaking world and into other countries. Many important works of
Ludwig von Mises (29 Sept. 1881-10 Oct. 1973), economist and social philosopher, was born Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (today, Lviv, Ukraine), the son of Arthur von Mises, a railroad engineer and civil servant, and Adele von Mises, born Adele Landau. Von Mises was still a small boy when his family moved to Vienna.
“I champion an economic order ruled by free prices and markets...the only economic order compatible with human freedom.” Wilhelm Röpke devoted his scholarly career to combating collectivism in economic, social, and political theory. As a student and proponent of the Austrian School, he contributed to its theoretical structure and political vision,
Claude Frederic Bastiat was a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government. Perhaps the main underlying theme of Bastiat’s writings was that the free market was inherently a source of “economic harmony” among individuals, as long as government was restricted to the function of
“I can see a day when economics will be taught as human action—including every subject that those words imply—and not broken up into courses that produce mathematicians instead of economists.” Margit von Mises died on June 25, just a week short of her 103rd birthday. While physically frail the last few years, Margit remained mentally alert until a
“To suppose all consumers to be dupes, and all merchants and manufacturers to be cheats, has the effect of authorizing them to be so, and of degrading all the working members of the community.” Anne Robert Jacques Turgot’s career in economics was brief but brilliant, and in every way remarkable. In the first place, he died rather young, and
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.