Your donation changes lives.
Ludwig von Mises led an extraordinary life, shaped by the turbulent political shifts of the early nineteenth century. Born to a noble family in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he published The Theory of Money and Credit by the age of 31. By age 33, he was on the front line in a war that resulted in the collapse of a regime that had held power for centuries. Twenty-one years later, he left for Geneva just before the Nazis took over Austria, preventing him from ever returning home. When he found himself in America, he was an unwanted outcast in the profession he had dedicated his life to.
Though Mises never held a paid academic post in the United States, he found an enthusiastic and receptive audience that still believed in America’s promise of liberty, property, and free markets. Given the opportunity, with support from benefactors and institutions, he inspired a new generation of intellectual leaders like Murray Rothbard, Israel Kirzner, and Ralph Raico. Today, more people read his works than ever during his lifetime.
The life of Mises should read as a story of resilience and hope. As we honor that life this week, we hope you will consider making a donation to support our educational efforts.
Mises’s life experience shaped his views on the power of ideas. As he wrote in his last great treatise, Theory and History, “Thoughts and ideas are not phantoms. They are real things. Although intangible and immaterial, they are factors in bringing about changes in the realm of tangible and material things.”
Mises had witnessed two world wars, the rise of numerous authoritarian regimes, political counterrevolutions, and incredible technological breakthroughs. Yet he knew that behind all of this was the incredible power of ideas.
The power of ideas is what inspires everything we do at the Mises Institute. Founded by Lew Rockwell to ensure that Mises’s works would never be lost to history, the Institute makes the ideas of Mises and those he has inspired available to the entire world and is a guiding light for those who believe that sound money, free markets, and individual liberty are the foundation of civilization.
The fruits of this work are demonstrated in the lives that have been changed: from intellectual leaders around the world, who directly mold the minds of future generations, to business and financial leaders, who find themselves uniquely equipped to navigate the changing world thanks to the lens of Austrian economics, to the tens of thousands who read, watch, and listen to Mises Institute content every day.
Every person who interacts with the Mises Institute becomes a part of Mises’s legacy, but those who support our outreach efforts deserve special recognition. With all the demands the world makes, donating to the Mises Institute is both an act of rebellion and an investment in a better future. Help us shape a freer and more peaceful world.
