History of the Austrian School of Economics

What lies at the base of all Austrian theorizing—from Menger to Mises. Presented at Mises University 1990.

It is not a conclusive proof of a doctrine's correctness that its adversaries use the police, the hangman, and violent mobs to fight it. But it is a proof of the fact that those taking recourse to violent oppression are convinced of the untenability of their own doctrines.

Presented at the Mises Institute's "First Annual Advanced Instructional Conference in Austrian Economics" at Stanford University.

Disillusioned in the Prussian state, the Young Hegelians proclaimed the inevitable coming apocalyptic revolution to destroy and transcend that state.

There is no more stopping the Mises School. And when the truth finally wins out, because only what is true can also work smoothly in the long run, then the hour of the Austrian School of Economics will have come.

The Austrian-school approach, with its realist, real-world approach, is actually more inclined toward empiricism than the neo-classical economists who tend toward very abstract theories and models.

An essential aspect of the Mengerian-Misesian tradition — the emphasis that it puts on the entrepreneurial character of all human action, that is, its inherent entanglement with the problems of scarcity and uncertainty.

Menger’s insights about the origin of social structures inspired later contributions in three main areas: spontaneous order, money, and law.

Can sociology be integrated into Mises's epistemological distinction between theory and history? What can sociology accomplish as a historical discipline?

Wasserman has brought to light substantial archival material on the background of the Austrian school. But his conclusions are deeply flawed, as Wasserman is beyond his depth when he writes about theoretical issues.