The Last Knight of Liberalism

THE PROBLEMS AND IDEAS that moved Mises in his early years were addressed by the work of four great economic theorists: Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Wieser, and Joseph Schumpeter.

Menger, Böhm-Bawerk, and Wieser were the incarnation of the Austrian School. Their books and papers (and their physical presence) provided the intellectual background of Mises’s scholarly works in fin de siècle Austria—the period that lasted until 1914. Mises’s major contributions were intended to solve problems raised by their writings. His influence on the succeeding generations of students of Austrian economics—or his lack of influence on them—can only be understood against the background provided by the pre-1914 foundational writings of the Austrian School and by the towering presences of Wieser and Schumpeter on the German and Austrian scene until the late 1920s.