History of the Austrian School of Economics

Peter Klein speaks at the 2019 Supporters Summit in Los Angeles, California.

Austrian-school economics is value-free and is not necessarily in favor of laissez-faire. But the Austrian view of markets and market power tends to push one in the laissez-faire direction.

One of the characteristic features of this age is the general attack launched by all governments and pressure groups against the rights of creditors.

The late Murray Rothbard has passionate fans and critics alike—but was he really the intransigent person his detractors portray?

In the midst of moral and intellectual decay, Roepke was an inflexible harbinger of the return to reason, honesty and sound political practice.

The question is not whether economic progress makes people happy. Most mothers feel happier if their children survive, and most people feel happier without tuberculosis than with it.

Mises did not just proclaim to the masses that civilization was in danger. Rather, Mises dedicated his entire life to educating his fellow man about sound economics and its importance to freedom and liberalism.

While searching through my apartment after a tragic fire, under soot and ash, I found these “lost” Rothbard lectures, recorded at NYU in 1979 and 1980.

"Libertarianism" is very much a part of what is now known as "classical" liberalism — the influential free-market ideology of the nineteenth century whose effects and legacy are still felt today.

If Austrian economics seems daunting, just read Hazlitt.