What is the Mises Institute?
Mission Statement
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, and individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. These great thinkers developed praxeology, a deductive science of human action based on premises known with certainty to be true, and this is what we teach and advocate. Our scholarly work is founded in Misesian praxeology, and in self-conscious opposition to the mathematical modeling and hypothesis-testing that has created so much confusion in neoclassical economics.
We are especially guided by their most important books: Mises, Human Action; Theory of Money and Credit; Socialism; Liberalism; and Theory and History. Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State With Power and Market; America’s Great Depression; An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought; The Ethics of Liberty.
Founded in 1982 by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., with the blessing and aid of Margit von Mises, Murray N. Rothbard, Henry Hazlitt, and Ron Paul, the Institute seeks a free-market capitalist economy and a private-property order that rejects taxation, monetary debasement, and a coercive state monopoly of protective services.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, the Institute works with students and scholars from many countries, and reaches out to business leaders, professionals, and everyone else interested in our mission. 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.
What We Do
For scholars worldwide, the Mises Institute offers fellowships, research grants, opportunities to publish in scholarly journals, academic conferences, access to our extensive libraries, and more.
Helping students discover the economics of freedom, and inspiring them to go on to teach at the university level, is a priority for us. Since 1986, the Institute has held Mises University, a summer school for students from all over North America and the world. For more than fifteen years, we’ve offered the Rothbard Graduate Seminar, an in-depth seminar for graduate students. In August 2020, the Institute will begin its online master’s degree and certificate programs in Austrian school economics. In total, we have provided 10,000 students at more than 1,000 colleges and universities with financial aid ranging from one-year book scholarships to full multi-year PhD fellowships.
For laymen, we offer numerous publications, seminars, videos and daily commentary on timely issues (subscribe to Daily Mises Wire at no charge).
The Mises Institute has 350-plus faculty members working on one or more academic projects. The Institute has held more than 1,000 teaching conferences and seminars on subjects from monetary policy to the history of war, as well as the international and interdisciplinary Austrian Economics Research Conference.
From these programs, the Institute has sponsored many books and hundreds of scholarly papers, in addition to thousands of published popular articles on economic and historical issues.
The Mises Institute publishes books by Ludwig von Mises and other new and old works by Austrian economists and historians, maintains the complete Mises bibliography, manages the archives of Murray N. Rothbard, and publishes periodicals, including an academic journal and a scholarly review of literature. The in-house Massey and Ward Libraries are a multilingual collection of more than 40,000 volumes, including Rothbard’s personal library, which makes it one of the most extensive specialized collections of its kind in North America.
Our Campus
Scholars and supporters alike are welcome to visit our campus in Auburn, Alabama, located 90 minutes south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest airport in the world.
Our Online Resources
But you don’t have to visit us in person to take advantage of our many resources. As a global educational organization, we seek to make as many of our resources as possible available online at no charge. Our website offers many thousands of free books and thousands of hours of audio and video, along with the full run of rare journals, biographies, and bibliographies of great economists. Be sure to visit our book store with many physical books and ebooks, plus apparel and more.
Mises.org went online in 1995. It features daily editorials, study guides, bibliographies, biographies, ebooks, publication archives, a calendar of events, fellowship applications, audio and video downloads, foreign language materials, a faculty directory, research tools, working papers, local on-site library access, and an online catalog of publications. One of the most-visited economics websites in the world, Mises.org provides open access and is linked from classrooms and libraries worldwide.
Mises.org’s online library is constantly expanding with new books available for free.
History
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., served as Mises’s editorial assistant at Arlington House Publishers. In December 1981, Rockwell, asked Mises’s widow, Margit, for her blessing to found the Mises Institute. Lew formally established it in October 1982 and located it in Auburn, Alabama. Today, Rockwell serves as Chairman.
With the support of Margit von Mises, who chaired the board until her death in 1993, and such giants as F.A. Hayek, Lawrence Fertig, Henry Hazlitt, and Murray N. Rothbard, who headed our academic programs until his death in 1995, the Mises Institute has become indispensable for scholars, students, and laymen researching the theory and history of the Austrian School.
In 1998, thanks to generous supporters, the Mises Institute built a campus at 518 West Magnolia Avenue in Auburn that houses an extensive and unique library in the social sciences. To meet the needs of the growing interest in Austrian economics, the campus has gone through several expansions to add faculty and student research offices and apartments, lecture spaces, and accommodate the expanding library.
Other Mises Institutes
Since 1982, many other Mises Institutes have been established throughout the world. We wish them well and hope for the creation of many more, but we have no formal ties with any Institute bearing the same name. Also, we do not necessarily endorse all of the positions or policies that they may promote.
Periodicals
The Misesian, published six times per year, examines the economic and political scene from a laissez-faire viewpoint and keeps Mises Institute Members informed of our projects and programs. The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (the successor journal to the Review of Austrian Economics), is our peer-reviewed academic journal. The Journal of Libertarian Studies is the premiere venue for the advancement of libertarianism, anarcho-capitalism, the individualist society, and non-interventionism as the first principle of political theory and practice.
Fellowships
Through our fellowships, we give top students of the Austrian school the practical support and intellectual tools they need to thrive in today’s academic setting. We provide books and periodicals, internships, academic counseling, and financial assistance to help them become the professors and intellectual leaders of tomorrow. Resident fellowships are available for dissertation writing and post-doc work. Students count it as the scholarly highlight of their lives.
Research
Serious scholarly work in economic theory and intellectual history does not receive the support it deserves from large foundations. To fill this crucial gap, the Mises Institute offers long-term grants for in-depth research in the Austrian tradition.
The Ward and Massey Libraries
Specializing in the works of the Austrian school of economics and classical liberalism, this large special collections and research library is housed on the first, second, and third floors of the Mises Institute, and is available for in-house use only. The private collection includes over 35,000 titles, and many are rare first and out-of-print editions.
Teaching
In addition to the online graduate programs in Austrian economics, we offer Mises University and Rothbard Graduate Seminar for undergraduate and graduate students who attend from around the world. Admissions are highly selective and only one in three applicants obtains admission. Our faculty are professional scholars, most of whom hold university-level faculty positions.
Academic Meetings
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the annual professional meeting where new papers in the Misesian tradition are presented and debated, and faculty and students are able to escape the politicized environments of their home campuses. The Libertarian Scholars Conference is a forum for scholars from different disciplines to meet and exchange ideas on the study of liberty. We also hold regular scholarly conferences on economics, history, philosophy, and law, as well as private colloquia exploring new avenues of research.
The Lawrence W. Fertig Prize in Austrian Economics awards $1,500 to the author of a paper that best advances economic science in the Austrian tradition. The O.P. Alford III Prize in Political Economy awards $1,500 to the author of the paper best advances libertarian scholarship.
Commentary
The Mises Wire offers short, contemporary news, opinion pieces, and original articles from Institute scholars and other writers familiar with the Austrian school and related disciplines. Inbox subscriptions are distributed at no charge. Our speakers’ program spreads our libertarian message on talk shows and at conferences and meetings around the country and the world. We also offer a variety of podcasts. The Human Action Podcast, hosted by Bob Murphy, is a podcast dedicated to the fundamentals of Austrian economics. Episodes typically feature an interview with a Mises Institute scholar, with a conversation diving deeper into one of the great works within the Austrian tradition. Radio Rothbard is a series of short podcasts focused on current events and topics from Mises Wire.
Audio and Video
Our conferences on such diverse topics as welfare, bureaucracy, war, and monetary reform, as well as our seminar lectures, Mises Circle events, and everything else we can find, are available in our extensive online Library. The Institute also provides a free live broadcast of most events.
Publishing Opportunities
Mises Wire
This venue features shorter articles that employ Austrian theory and practice to illuminate current or historical events. These articles, read by tens of thousands of people every day, require clarity of thought and exposition. They are permanently archived and eventually reach hundreds of thousands. The more steeped in the Austrian tradition, the better. Footnotes are allowed but not required, but internal links are much preferred. Contact editor Ryan McMaken.
The Misesian
This journal, published every two months, interprets current policy and events in light of Austrian theory and free-market policy. The editor seeks articles that are pithy, rigorous, provocative, and deal with enduring themes. Preferred length: 700-1,000 words. Contact editor Ryan McMaken.
Working Papers
These are unpublished academic papers in process. Submissions follow standard scholarly format with footnotes and citations, and include complete author information including affiliation and email address. They are published as sent, once rendered into PDF format. There is an informal review process. The papers are read by Austrian scholars, students, and interested people all over the world. Contact Per Bylund.
The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
This refereed journal considers articles that promote the development and extension of Austrian economics and that promote the analysis of contemporary issues in the mainstream of economics from an Austrian perspective. Contact editor Timothy Terrell.
Please Join Us
For as little as $100 a year, you can become a Member of the Mises Institute and join our work for the free society. You will receive The Misesian and other publications, as well as the gratitude of the students and teachers of liberty. Please note: the Mises Institute is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from individuals, businesses, and foundations.
The Mises Institute is an equal opportunity employer. Download our policy in English or Spanish.
