History of the Austrian School of Economics

Dissatisfaction with the Fed appears to have gone mainstream, and this may increase if the Fed descends into negative interest rate policies. But, as always, a sound understanding of economics is key.

Ludwig von Mises writes on how Carl Menger foresaw the destruction of Europe due to its rejection of capitalism and classical liberalism.

In this excerpt from his brilliant Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism, Guido Hülsmann illustrates how Carl Menger's experience as a financial journalist led to his developing the revolutionary foundations of the Austrian school of economics.

A free-wheeling discussion of what Murray Rothbard was like as an intellectual, a scholar, and a person

Ludwig von Mises reminds us that thanks to the rise of markets and capitalism, human beings gained more access to more abundance than ever before. And it is the consumers, not the producers, who have power over the market process.

Many people mistakenly think of Austrian economics as nothing more than a radical defense of free markets, though it's really a framework for studying human action and its social implications.

Populism was in the air this week as ranchers in the Western US opposed the spread of federally-owned lands, and reformers in Switzerland look to a referendum on fractional reserve banking.

In a superb talk given on February 27, 1984, at an early Mises Institute event in New York City, Margit von Mises discusses the process by which she came to write the memoir of her late husband, as well as his impact on the world.

Murray Rothbard dreamed of a fellowship program at the Mises Institute where students could become new Austrian scholars. In the twenty years since Rothbard’s death, the Mises Institute has worked with hundreds of young academics to build a new generation of Austrians.

In his book Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski correctly diagnoses many problems with neoclassical economics. The reader soon notices, however, that Mirowski doesn't know the difference between Austrian economists and neoliberals.