Austrian Economics Overview

Alexandre Padilla talks about Rothbard on Agency Problems at the 2003 Austrian Scholars Conference.

Recorded at Mises University 2003.

Economic theory is essential for understanding history. It is difficult to interpret data without economic theory. Theory cannot come from data. All states are aggressive. All wars require economic resources. More liberal states will pursue more aggressive policies. The biggest bullies will get away with murder.

Boom, Bust, and the Future (44:40) January 18-19, 2002

Recorded at Mises University 2003.

Recorded at Mises University 2003.

Microeconomics starts with the basic fact that each person has short term and long term goals, like buying a ham sandwich and graduating from college. People act in the world to accomplish something. Human action is purposive. You employ different means to achieve certain goals.

An extraordinary and wide ranging interview with Hans-Hermann Hoppe: "The apologists of the central state claim that a proliferation of independent political units would lead to economic disintegration and impoverishment. Today, however, manny small countries are all wealthier than their surroundings. Moreover, theoretical reflection also shows that this claim is just another statist myth."

The Mises Institute, founded in 1982, is the major educator, publisher, supporter, and promoter of Austrian School economics and libertarian ideas in the world today. The ideas we encourage and promote do not exist in a vacuum, however: they are constantly bolstered by government failures and freedom's successes. To explain why, the Institute publishes journals, supports students, holds conference, and maintains a website that draws more traffic than the UN. Our influence with students, and now even faculty, makes us competitive with the American Economic Association or any government bureaucracy you can name.

Ludwig von Mises was a great economist and teacher, writes William Peterson, but there is one more thing for which to credit Mises: a role model for each of us--whoever you are--for his standing up to the power elite of mainstream politics and economics, for valor in the face of all manner of fire, for never giving up. And to do so with verve and wit.