Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973): Chronological Bibliography 1940-1944

LUDWIG VON MISES (1881-1973) 

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Chronological Bibliography

1940 Migration to the United States.

BOOKS:

Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens. [Economics: Theory of Action and Exchange]. An overall praxeological treatment of economics. The German-language predecessor of Human Action  , 1949. No English translation available. 

Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens Geneva: Éditions Union, 1940. In December 1944, Mises wrote: "My objective in writing the treatise Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens, was to provide a comprehensive theory of economic behavior which would include not only the economics of a market economy (free-enterprise system) but no less the economics of any other thinkable system of social cooperation, viz., socialism, interventionism, corporativism and so on. Furthermore I deemed it necessary to deal with all those objections which from various points of view -- for instance: of ethics, psychology, history, anthropology, ethnography, biology -- have been raised against the soundness of economic reasoning and the validity of the methods hitherto applied by the economists of all schools and lines of thought. Only such an exhaustive treatment of all critical objections can satisfy the exacting reader and convince him that economics is a science both conveying knowledge and able to guide conduct. " (As quoted in Margit von Mises, My Years with Ludwig von Mises, 1976 edition, p. 105; 2nd 1984 edition, pp. 101-02).
Reprint of the 1940 edition: Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 1980. (The International Carl Menger Library Series). This book, originally published in Geneva, Sitzerland, in 1940, when much of Europe was under the sway of anti-capitalistic Nazism, was practically unknown at that time in the German-speaking world. Now once again, it is available in German (special thanks to George Reisman for making this file available.) 

"Critique of Böhm-Bawerk's reasoning in support of his time preference theory" included in Mises Made Easier (Free-Market Books, 1974). An excerpt from Nationalökonomie

"Interventionism: An Economic Analysis" An excerpt from Nationalökonomie. First printed in 1998 by the Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. Copyright © 1998 by Bettina Bien Greaves. Online edition is copyright 2004 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

ARTICLES:

"L`autarcie et la Guerre" [Autarky and War]. La Revue Danubienne. 1:7(May 6, 1940).

OTHER:

"My Contributions to Economic Theory." Talk before the New York University economics faculty, November 20, 1940. Included in 4th(1980) edition of Planning for Freedom.

1941

ARTICLES:

"American Credits for Europe?" The Voice of Austria. 1:3(August 1941)9.

OTHER:

"Productive Capitalism vs. Distributive Socialism: America's Advantages in Postwar Reconstruction." Trusts and Estates. 72(January 1941)41-45. Remarks at a Symposium on Public Control and Private Enterprise(pp.28-32 in Symposium reprint).

"Grandfather Willcke" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (March 22, 1941).

Review of Maxine Y. Sweezy's The Structure of the Nazi Economy (Harvard University Press, 1941). Journal of Central European Affairs. University of Colorado. (date ?).

1942

ARTICLES:

"Social Science and Natural Science." Journal of Social Philosophy & Jurisprudence. 7:3(April 1942)240-53. Reprinted in Money, Method, and the Market Process.

"Inflation and You." The American Mercury. 55:223(July 1942)66-71. Reprinted in Economic Freedom and Interventionism .

"Ideas sobre la Política Económica de la Postguerra" [Ideas About the Postwar Political Economy]. Cuadernos Americanos. 4:4(July-August 1942)87-99.

"Economic Nationalism and Peaceful Economic Cooperation." MSS found among Mises' papers, apparently written in early 1942. Reprinted in Money, Method, and the Market Process.

OTHER:

Review of Karl Robert's (pseud.) Hitler's Counterfeit reich: Behind the Scenes of Nazi Economy (New York: Alliance Book Corp. 1941). Journal of Central European Affairs. University of Colorado. (date ?).

"Hitler's Achilles Heel" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (March 20, 1942).

"Comenius" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (March 28, 1942)16C. On the 350th anniversary of the birth of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius), Czech fighter against intolerance, oppression and injustice, "his hopes and longings are alive in the hearts of millions of Czechs."

"The Nazis Under Blockade" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (March 30, 1942.

"Germany's Transport Problem" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (April 13, 1942).

"Reich Gets Big Shock: New Securities Ordinance Viewed as Blow at System." Letter to the Editor, The New York Times. (June 21, 1942).

1943

ARTICLES:

"Socialism versus European Democracy." The American Scholar. 12:2(Spring 1943)220-31. Mises here presents a brief version of the thesis of Omnipotent Government. It is the various socialist movements that have undermined both political and economic freedom through their inevitably faulty interferences with the market.

"Autarky and Its Consequences." Manuscript dated May 5, 1943. Reprinted in Money, Method, and the Market Process.

OTHER:

"Super-National Organization Held No Way to Peace: Radical Change in Political Mentalities and Social and Economic Ideologies Viewed as Necessary in Order to Eradicate Economic Nationalism." Letter to the Editor. The New York Times. (January 3, 1943)E-8.

"A 'New' World Currency?" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times (March 30, 1943). Reprinted in Austrian Economics Newsletter. Auburn, Al.: Ludwig von Mises Institute. 9:3(Spring/Summer 1988)7.

"Industrial 'Empires'" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (June 18, 1943).

"Inflation and Money Supply" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (June 20, 1943)12E.

"British Post-War Problems" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (July 25, 1943)10E.

"Another Risorgimento!" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (July 31, 1943)12C. The new American Committee for Italian Democracy recalls the hopes of great Italians of the past who sought democracy and freedom. "Dictatorships have failed. The one in Italy could not even wage war efficiently....It is men's hearts that are stirred today, in Italy by the vision of a restored freedom worth more than all the tattered rags of empire."

"'Elastic Expectations' and the Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle." Economica. New Series. 10:39(August 1943)251-52. Replying to Ludwig Lachmann, Mises does not consider it a good objection to the Austrian theory of the business cycle that businessmen perhaps will not lengthen the structure of production if bank credit expands. If they do not, the business cycle will not start-but the aim of economics is merely to explain those cycles that do occur.

Review of Adolf Sturmthal's The Tragedy of European Labor, 1918-1939 (Columbia University Press, 1943). The American Economic Review. 33:3(September 1943)702-05.

Review of Egon Ranshofen-Wertheimer's Victory is Not Enough! The Strategy for a Lasting Peace (Norton, 1942). Economica. New Series. 10:40 (November 1943)318-19.

"The German Supply Problem" (unsigned editorial). The New York Times. (December 26, 1943). According to the editorial, clues reach the U.S. occasionally through German newspaper stories as to why German technical experts reportedly "warned Hitler against a Russian campaign." The editorial cites the dreadful state of transport, the demolished roads and bridges, the need to construct thousands of miles of new highways and railroads with slave labor, 80% female, etc.

1944

BOOKS:

Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War. A history and analysis of the events and conflicts in Europe that led to both world wars. As indicated by the book's subtitle. Mises illustrates how, unless ideas change, pro-interventionist ideas transform a "liberal" society -- "liberal" in the classical sense -- into a totalitarian one. He uses the Nazi (National Socialist) regime of Hitler's Germany and the rise of economic nationalism to illustrate this thesis. more 

First edition: Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War New Haven: Yale University Press, 1944.
Spanish translation: Omnipotencia Gubernamental. Translated by Pedro Elgoibar. Mexico: Editorial Hermes, n.d.(1946?)
French translation: Le Gouvernement Omnipotent de L`État Totalitaire à la Guerre Total. Translated by M. de Hulster. Paris: Librairie de Médicis, 1947.
Reprint of the 1944 edition. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1969.
German version: Im Namen des Staates, oder Die Gefahren des Kollektivismus [In the Name of the State: or the Dangers of Collectivism]. Stuttgart: Bonn Aktuell, 1978.
Reprint of 1944 edition. Spring Mills, PA.: Libertarian Press, 1985.

Bureaucracy. An explanation in fairly simple language of the basic difference between bureaucratic management and profit-and-loss management. Bureaucracy has a legitimate role to play in governmental affairs. However, there are significant and important distinctions between  bureaucratic management, which is appropriate in government, and  profit-and-loss management, which is essential for the successful operation of business. Many writers class large corporations with governments as bureaucracies. This is a fundamental error. Business, no matter how large, is governed by profit-and-loss. A business can be divided into numerous sections, each evaluated through the use of a balance sheet. The invention of double-entry bookkeeping (praised in Faust by Goethe) was indispensable here. Governments, on the other hand, operate via coercion: they are not responsible to the consumers in the way that businesses are. Democracy is much inferior to consumer sovereignty as a means of exerting popular control. It is, nevertheless, the most desirable form of government. 

Bureaucracy New Haven: Yale University Press, 1944. British edition. Bureaucracy London: W. Hodge, 1945.
French translation: La Bureaucratie. Translated by R. Florin & P. Barbier. Paris: Librairie de Médicis, 1946.
Spanish translation: La Burocracia. Carcas: Universidad Central de Caracas, Instituto de Economía, 1951.
Paperback reprint of 1944 edition, with a new preface. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962.
Spanish translation by Dalmacio Negro Pavón, 1969.
Reprint of 1944 edition, including both 1944 and 1962 prefaces. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1969.
Reprint of 1969 Dalmacio Negro Pavón's Spanish translation: Burocracia. Madrid: Union Editorial; Guatemala: Editorial Universidad Francisco Marroquin, 1974.
Reprint of 1969 edition. Cedar Falls, Iowa: Center for Futures Education, distributed by Libertarian Press, Spring Mills, Pa., 1983.
Greek translation by Sotirios Papasotiriou. Published for E.K.O.M.E.(Society for Social and Economic Studies) by Euroekdotiki, 1988.
Unabridged audiotape version: Bureaucracy. Read by Robert Morris. Ashland, Oregon: Classics on Tape,[1989]. 4 cassettes.
Lithuanian translation: Biurakratija. Translated by Algirdas Degutis. Kaunas(Lithuania): Institutas Catallaxis, 1992.
Russian translation by Boris Pinsker. Published together with Pinsker's Russian translations of Planned Chaos and The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality. Moscow(Russia): Catallaxy, 1993.
German translation by Jörg Guido Hülsmann. St. Augustin: Academia(1997).
IN PROCESS: Italian translation.

ARTICLES:

"Big Business and the Common Man: High Living Standards in U.S. Came from Big Mass Production Enterprise." Barron's. 24:9(February 28, 1944)3.

"The Treatment of 'Irrationality' in the Social Sciences." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 4:4 (June 1944)527-45. The fact that people often act in a seemingly irrational way does not mean that social science must abandon rationality in the explanation of such behavior. Psychoanalysis, e.g., depends for its effectiveness on comprehending as rational, given the ends of the patient, behavior that on the surface is without pattern. Reprinted in Money, Method, and the Market Process.

OTHER:

Review of S. Leon Levy's Nassau W. Senior: The Prophet of Modern Capitalism (Bruce Humphries, 1943). American Economic Review. 34:2(June 1944)359-61.

"Causes of War." Santa Ana (California) Register (October 18, 1944)4,14. Text of October 17, 1944 lecture, not edited by Mises. For more information on this lecture, see Hoiles, "Books and Articles About Mises: 1956."