Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was an Austrian-born economist who emigrated to the United States to escape Nazi persecution. He was an advocate of free market and laissez-faire policies, and was an outspoken critic of socialism and is considered the founder the "neo-Austrian School" of economics. Mises also felt that government should not take positions on morality either.
Mises built on the Austrian school of economics founded by Carl Menger, as expressed in his book Principles of Economics. Mises supported the Austrian emphasis on individual action and the benefits of a free-market economy.
Mises' classic work was "The Theory of Money and Credit" (1912), in which he integrated macroeconomics into microeconomics by integrating the theory of money into the general theory of marginal utility. Other Austrian economists rejected his work, forcing Mises to start a neo-Austrian school of economics.
Mises felt that society does not benefit from an increase in the money supply, that increased money and bank credit causes inflation and business cycles. Mises supported a 100 percent gold standard.
A student of Mises, F.A. Hayek, won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974 for elaborating on Mises' business cycle theory.
Books by Ludwig von Mises
- The Theory of Money and Credit
- Nation, State, and Economy
- Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
- Critique of Interventionism
- Liberalism
- Epistemological Problems of Economics
- Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War
- Bureaucracy
- Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
- Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution
- The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality
- The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science
- Mises wrote Human Action (1949), the most comprehensive case for economic liberty ever written.
E-Books
- The Free Market and Its Enemies: Pseudo-Science, Socialism, and Inflation Lecture Series, Volume 1, with an introduction by Richard Ebeling.
- Nine Books by Mises, made available online by the Liberty Fund.
- Human Action: A treatise on economics 1949 (4th edition, 1996). San Francisco: Fox & Wilkes. ISBN 0-930073-18-5. Made available online by The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- Human Action: The Scholars Edition Auburn, Alabama: Mises Institute, 1999. Re-issue of the classic 1949 Edition with new introduction and expanded index.
- A Critique of Interventionism, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, Libertarian Press 1990.
- Economic Freedom and Interventionism, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow Second Edition, with a New Introduction by Bettina Bien Greaves, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- Liberalism: In the Classical Tradition, Online edition Copyright The Mises Institute, 2000.
- The Theory of Money and Credit. 1912 integration of microeconomics and macroeconomics. ISBN 0-913966-71-1. Online edition Copyright The Mises Institute.
- Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis Von Mises' critique of Socialism
- Theory and History. 1957 treatise on social and economic evolution, with a preface by Murray N. Rothbard. Online edition Copyright The Mises Institute, 2000.