Austrian Economics Overview

Tom Woods frames Ludwig von Mises's book around a single question—when the state may legitimately initiate force—and the classical liberal’s insistence on a very high threshold for it.

While Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard are better known in circles of Austrian economics, Israel Kirzner also made many contributions in the area of entrepreneurship. 

In this issue of The Misesian, we continue our Year of Rothbard with a new essay from Joseph Salerno on what made Rothbard’s work in Austrian economics so notable. Rothbard took the inimitable work of Mises, as set down in his groundbreaking treatise Human Action, and expanded it further.

The Mises Institute held a brand-new program developed in honor of Murray Rothbard’s 100th birthday: Rothbard University. The objective was simple: to recreate the magic of our summer student program Mises University in a format specifically for professionals.

Besides repairing the gaps in Misesian economics, Rothbard made numerous theoretical breakthroughs and discoveries of his own.

Taxes and spending don’t “balance out.” Mark Thornton channels Rothbard: taxes compound the damage—distorting markets, rewarding the political class, and grinding down real living standards.

Time is a unique resource in economics because we cannot create more of it and are subject to its limitations. Ludwig von Mises and the Austrians understand the role of time in economic better than most other mainstream economists.

Mark Thornton shows why every system that ignored the entrepreneur—from socialism to fascism to modern industrial policy—failed for the same reason.

Time is a unique resource in economics because we cannot create more of it and are subject to its limitations. Ludwig von Mises and the Austrians understand the role of time in economic better than most other mainstream economists.

In contemplating the life and career of Ludwig von Mises, one is struck by the nobility and grandeur, the high courage, of his lonely and lifelong struggle on behalf of truth and laissez-faire. But what led Mises to pursue his lonely and seemingly doomed struggle until the very end?