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Mises wrote and lectured extensively on behalf of ].<ref>For example, Murray Rothbard, a leading Austrian school economist, has written that, by the 1920s, "Mises was clearly the outstanding bearer of the great Austrian tradition." ''Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero'', the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1988, p. 25.</ref> In his ] '']'', Mises introduced ] as a general conceptual foundation of the social sciences and set forth his methodological approach to economics. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on behalf of ].<ref>For example, Murray Rothbard, a leading Austrian school economist, has written that, by the 1920s, "Mises was clearly the outstanding bearer of the great Austrian tradition." ''Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero'', the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1988, p. 25.</ref> In his ] '']'', Mises adopted ] as a general conceptual foundation of the social sciences and set forth his methodological approach to economics.{{cn}}

Much of Mises' writing concerned two subjects:
# ] and ];
# advocacy of ] over ].
]

Mises observed that money is demanded for its usefulness in purchasing other goods rather than for its own sake, and that unsound ] expansion causes ]s. He also concluded that ] economies must fail because of the '']''{{spaced ndash}}the impossibility of a socialist government being able to make the calculations required to operate a complex economy. Mises held that without a ] there could be no ] and no monetary ], both of which he argued were needed to achieve the allocation of economic goods to their most productive uses.


Mises criticized socialism in his 1922 work '']: An Economic and Sociological Analysis'': <blockquote>The only certain fact about Russian affairs under the Soviet regime with regard to which all people agree is: that the standard of living of the Russian masses is much lower than that of the masses in the country which is universally considered as the paragon of capitalism, the United States of America. If we were to regard the Soviet regime as an experiment, we would have to say that the experiment has clearly demonstrated the superiority of capitalism and the inferiority of socialism.<ref> by Ludwig von Mises.</ref></blockquote> Mises criticized socialism in his 1922 work '']: An Economic and Sociological Analysis'': <blockquote>The only certain fact about Russian affairs under the Soviet regime with regard to which all people agree is: that the standard of living of the Russian masses is much lower than that of the masses in the country which is universally considered as the paragon of capitalism, the United States of America. If we were to regard the Soviet regime as an experiment, we would have to say that the experiment has clearly demonstrated the superiority of capitalism and the inferiority of socialism.<ref> by Ludwig von Mises.</ref></blockquote>

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Ludwig von Mises
BornLudwig Heinrich Edler von Mises
(1881-09-29)29 September 1881
Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine)
Died10 October 1973(1973-10-10) (aged 92)
New York City, New York, USA
RelativesRichard von Mises (brother)
Gitta Sereny (step-daughter)
Academic career
InstitutionUniversity of Vienna (1919–1934)
Institut Universitaire des Hautes Études Internationales, Geneva, Switzerland (1934–1940)
New York University (1945–1969)
School or
tradition		Austrian School
InfluencesKant, Bastiat, Böhm-Bawerk, Brentano, Husserl, Menger, Say, Turgot, Weber, Wieser, Wicksell, Lord Overstone

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (Template:IPA-de; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was a philosopher, Austrian School economist, sociologist, and classical liberal. He became a prominent figure in the Austrian School of economic thought and is best known for his work on praxeology. Fearing a Nazi takeover of Switzerland, where he was living at the time, Mises emigrated to the United States in 1940. Mises had a significant influence on the libertarian movement in the United States in the mid-20th century.

Biography

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Early life

Coat of arms of Ludwig von Mises's great-grandfather, Mayer Rachmiel Mises, awarded upon his 1881 ennoblement by Franz Joseph I of Austria

Ludwig von Mises was born to wealthy Jewish parents in the city of Lemberg, in Galicia, Austria-Hungary. The family of his father Arthur Edler von Mises had been elevated to the Austrian nobility in the 19th century, and was involved in building and financing railroads. Ludwig's mother, Adele (born Landau), was a niece of Joachim Landau, a Liberal Party deputy to the Austrian Parliament. Arthur was stationed there as a construction engineer with Czernowitz railway company. At the age of twelve Ludwig spoke fluent German, Polish, and French, read Latin, and could understand Ukrainian. Mises was the older brother of mathematician Richard von Mises, a member of the Vienna Circle. When Ludwig and Richard were children, his family moved back to Vienna.

In 1900, he attended the University of Vienna, becoming influenced by the works of Carl Menger. Mises's father died in 1903, and in 1906, Mises was awarded his doctorate from the school of law.

Mises' life in Europe

In the years from 1904 to 1914, Mises attended lectures given by Austrian economist Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. He graduated in February 1906 (Juris Doctor) and started a career as a civil servant in Austria's financial administration, quitting after a few months to take a trainee position in a Vienna law firm. During that time, Mises began lecturing on economics, and in early 1909, he joined the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During World War I, Mises served as a front officer in the Austro-Hungarian artillery and as an economic adviser to the War Department. The final year of the war saw Mises accorded an unpaid appointment to the University of Vienna as professor extraordinarius.

Mises taught as a Privatdozent at the Vienna University in the years from 1913 to 1934 while formally serving as secretary at the Vienna Chamber of Commerce until 1934. In these roles, he became one of the closest economic advisers of Engelbert Dollfuss, the austrofascist but strongly anti-Nazi Austrian Chancellor, and later to Otto von Habsburg, the Christian democratic politician and claimant to the throne of Austria (which had been legally abolished in 1918). In 1934, Mises left Austria for Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940.

While in Switzerland, Mises married Margit Herzfeld Serény, a former actress and widow of Ferdinand Serény. Friends and students of Mises in Europe included Wilhelm Röpke and Alfred Müller-Armack (advisors to German chancellor Ludwig Erhard), Jacques Rueff (monetary advisor to Charles de Gaulle), Gottfried Haberler (later a professor at Harvard), Lord Lionel Robbins (of the London School of Economics), and Italian President Luigi Einaudi.

Economist and political theorist F. A. Hayek first came to know Mises while working as Mises's subordinate at a government office dealing with Austria's post-World War I debt. In 1956, while toasting Mises at a party, Hayek said, "I came to know him as one of the best educated and informed men I have ever known..."

Work in the United States

In 1940 Mises and his wife fled the German advance in Europe and emigrated to New York City. There he became a visiting professor at New York University. He held this position from 1945 until his retirement in 1969, though he was not salaried by the university. Businessman and libertarian commentator Lawrence Fertig, a member of the NYU Board of Trustees, funded Mises and his work. For part of this period, Mises studied currency issues for the Pan-Europa movement, which was led by a fellow NYU faculty member and Austrian exile, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. In 1947, Mises became one of the founding members of the Mont Pelerin Society. Mises had an indirect role in the economic reconstruction of Europe after World War II through his professional relationships with Ludwig Erhard, Charles de Gaulle and Luigi Einaudi. In 1962, von Mises received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art for political economy at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Mises's work influenced various Americans, including Benjamin Anderson, Leonard Read, Henry Hazlitt, Max Eastman, legal scholar Sylvester J. Petro, and novelist Ayn Rand. His American students included Israel Kirzner, Hans Sennholz, Ralph Raico, Leonard Liggio, George Reisman and Murray Rothbard.

Mises received students at his home in New York. He retired from teaching at the age of 87. Mises died at the age of 92 in New York. He is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York. Grove City College houses the 20,000 page archive of Mises papers and unpublished works.

Mises praised the work of libertarian philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand in a letter to her about her book, Atlas Shrugged: "You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you.”

Contributions to economics

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Mises wrote and lectured extensively on behalf of classical liberalism. In his treatise Human Action, Mises adopted ] as a general conceptual foundation of the social sciences and set forth his methodological approach to economics.

Mises criticized socialism in his 1922 work Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis:

The only certain fact about Russian affairs under the Soviet regime with regard to which all people agree is: that the standard of living of the Russian masses is much lower than that of the masses in the country which is universally considered as the paragon of capitalism, the United States of America. If we were to regard the Soviet regime as an experiment, we would have to say that the experiment has clearly demonstrated the superiority of capitalism and the inferiority of socialism.

Criticisms

Economic historian Bruce Caldwell writes that in the mid-20th century, with the ascendance of positivism and Keynesianism, Mises came to be perceived by many as the "archetypal 'unscientific' economist." In a 1957 review of his book The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, The Economist said of von Mises: "Professor von Mises has a splendid analytical mind and an admirable passion for liberty; but as a student of human nature he is worse than null and as a debater he is of Hyde Park standard." Conservative commentator Whittaker Chambers published a similarly negative review of that book in the National Review, stating that Mises's thesis that anti-capitalist sentiment was rooted in "envy" epitomized "know-nothing conservatism" at its "know-nothingest."

In a 1978 interview, Friedrich Hayek said about Mises's book Socialism "At first we all felt he was frightfully exaggerating and even offensive in tone. You see, he hurt all our deepest feelings, but gradually he won us around, although for a long time I had to – I just learned he was usually right in his conclusions, but I was not completely satisfied with his argument."

Economist Milton Friedman considered Mises inflexible in his thinking:

The story I remember best happened at the initial Mont Pelerin meeting when he got up and said, "You're all a bunch of socialists." We were discussing the distribution of income, and whether you should have progressive income taxes. Some of the people there were expressing the view that there could be a justification for it.

Another occasion which is equally telling: Fritz Machlup was a student of Mises's, one of his most faithful disciples. At one of the Mont Pelerin meetings, Machlup gave a talk in which I think he questioned the idea of a gold standard; he came out in favor of floating exchange rates. Mises was so mad he wouldn't speak to Machlup for three years. Some people had to come around and bring them together again. It's hard to understand; you can get some understanding of it by taking into account how people like Mises were persecuted in their lives.

Economist Murray Rothbard, who studied under Mises, agreed he was uncompromising, but disputes reports of his abrasiveness. In his words, Mises was "unbelievably sweet, constantly finding research projects for students to do, unfailingly courteous, and never bitter" about the discrimination he received at the hands of the economic establishment of his time.

Von Mises 1927 book Liberalism has been largely ignored, except for its comments on fascism. Marxists Herbert Marcuse and Perry Anderson, as well as German writer Claus-Dieter Krohn, criticized Mises for writing approvingly of Italian fascism, especially for its suppression of leftist elements. More recently economist J. Bradford DeLong and sociologist Richard Seymour, repeated the criticism. Mises wrote in the book:

It cannot be denied that Fascism and similar movements aiming at the establishment of dictatorships are full of the best intentions and that their intervention has, for the moment, saved European civilization. The merit that Fascism has thereby won for itself will live on eternally in history. But though its policy has brought salvation for the moment, it is not of the kind which could promise continued success. Fascism was an emergency makeshift. To view it as something more would be a fatal error.

Mises biographer Jörg Guido Hülsmann calls criticism that Mises supported fascism "absurd", pointing to the rest of the quote that called fascism dangerous and described as a "fatal error" the view that it was more than an "emergency makeshift" against the looming threat of communism and socialism as exemplified by the Bolsheviks in Russia.

After his death, Mises's wife quoted a passage that Mises had written about Benjamin Anderson, and said that it best described Mises's own personality: "His most eminent qualities were his inflexible honesty, his unhesitating sincerity. He never yielded. He always freely enunciated what he considered to be true. If he had been prepared to suppress or only to soften his criticisms of popular, but irresponsible, policies, the most influential positions and offices would have been offered him. But he never compromised."

Bibliography

See also

References

*Note regarding personal names: 'Edler' (in English: 'noble') is a German title, in rank similar to that of a baronet. It is not a first or middle name. The female form is 'Edle'. Similarly, below, 'Ritter' is German for 'knight' and 'Graf' for 'count'.

  1. Roger W. Garrison, Ludwig Edler von Mises, in: David Glasner (ed.), Business Cycles and Depressions, New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1997, pp. 440–42.
  2. ^ Hülsmann, Jörg Guido (2007). Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism. Ludwig von Mises Institute. ISBN 978-1-933550-18-3.
  3. Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, "The Cultural Background of Ludwig von Mises", The Ludwig von Mises Institute, page 1
  4. "Richard von Mises". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  5. Von Mises, Ludwig; Goddard, Arthur (1979). Liberalism: a socio-economic exposition (2 ed.). ISBN 0-8362-5106-7.
  6. ^ "Biography of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) ('Chronology')". Mises.org. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  7. Mises, Ludwig von, The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics, Arlington Houise, 1969, reprinted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1984, p. 10, Rothbard, Murray, The Essential Ludwig von Mises, 2nd printing, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1983, p. 30.
  8. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, "Who was Ludwig von Mises?" (2003), access date 17 June 2013
  9. "The Free Market: Meaning of the Mises Papers, The". Mises.org. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
  10. ^ Mises, Margit von, My Years with Ludwig von Mises, Arlington House, 1976; 2nd enlarged ed., Cedar Falls, IA: Center for Futures Education, 1984. ISBN 978-0915513000. OCLC 11668538
  11. Rothbard, Murray, Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1988, p. 67.
  12. Moss, Laurence S. "Introduction". The Economics of Ludwig von Mises: Toward a Critical Reappraisal. Sheed and Ward, 1976.
  13. North, Gary. "Mises on Money". LewRockwell.com. 21 January 2002
  14. Coudenhove-Kalergi, Richard Nikolaus, Graf von (1953). An idea conquers the world. London: Hutchinson. p. 247.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. Doherty, Brian, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (2007), p. 10.
  16. Kurien Society of Science and Art website, Listing of recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art; Google Translated page, accessed June 5, 2013.
  17. On Mises's influence, see Rothbard, Murray, The Essential Ludwig von Mises, 2nd printing, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1983; on Eastman's conversion "from Marx to Mises," see Diggins, John P., Up From Communism Harper & Row, 1975, pp. 201–233; on Mises's students and seminar attendees, see Mises, Margit von, My Years with Ludwig von Mises, Arlington House, 1976, 2nd enlarged edit., Center for Future Education, 1984.
  18. Reisman, George, Capitalism: a Treatise on Economics, "Introduction," Jameson Books, 1996; and Mises, Margit von, My Years with Ludwig von Mises, 2nd enlarged edit., Center for Future Education, 1984, pp. 136–137.
  19. Rothbard, Murray, Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1988, p. 61.
  20. Austrian Student Scholars Conference Announcement, Grove City College website, 2013, accessed June 8, 2013.
  21. Mises and Rothbard Letters to Ayn Rand: Mises Letter to Ayn Rand January 23, 1958, Ludwig von Mises Institute website, 2013, accessed August 8, 2013.
  22. For example, Murray Rothbard, a leading Austrian school economist, has written that, by the 1920s, "Mises was clearly the outstanding bearer of the great Austrian tradition." Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1988, p. 25.
  23. Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis by Ludwig von Mises.
  24. Caldwell, Bruce (2004). Hayek's Challenge. The University of Chicago Press. pp. 125–6. ISBN 978-0-226-09191-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  25. "Liberalism in Caricature", The Economist
  26. Quoted in Sam Tanenhaus, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, (Random House, New York, 1997), p. 500. ISBN 978-0-375-75145-5.
  27. UCLA Oral History (Interview with Friedrich Hayek), American Libraries/Internet Archive, 1978. Retrieved on 4 April 2009 (Blog.Mises.org), source with quotes
  28. "Best of Both Worlds (Interview with Milton Friedman)". Reason. June 1995.
  29. Murray Rothbard, "The Future of Austrian Economics", 1990 talk at Mises University at Stanford, at MisesMedia Youtube channel.
  30. Ralph Raico, "Mises on Fascism, Democracy, and Other Questions, Journal of Libertarian Studies (1996) 12:1 pp. 1–27
  31. J. Bradford DeLong, "Dictatorships and Double Standards: Jeet Heer Has a Ludwig Von Mises Quote...", personal blog entry,
  32. Richard Seymour, , (Zero Books, John Hunt, London, 2010), p. 32, ISBN 1846944562
  33. Ludwig von Mises, "Liberalism", Chapter 10, The Argument of Fascism, 927.
  34. Kirzner, Israel M. (2001). Ludwig von Mises: The Man and his Economics. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. p. 31. ISBN 9781882926688. OCLC 47734733.

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