Resources on Mises in the OLL

Ludwig von Mises (29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973)

“The distinctive principle of Western social philosophy is individualism. It aims at the creation of a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of the social apparatus of coercion and oppression, the State. All the spiritual and material achievements of Western civilization were the result of the operation of this idea of liberty. … Government is repression not freedom. Freedom is to be found only in the sphere in which government does not interfere. Liberty is always freedom from the government. It is the restriction of the government’s interference. It prevails only in the fields in which the citizens have the opportunity to choose the way in which they want to proceed.” [Ludwig von Mises, “Liberty and Property” (1958).]

[This essay was originally delivered as a lecture at Princeton University, October 1958, at the 9th Meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society.]

About Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was the acknowledged leader of the Austrian School of economic thought, a prodigious originator in economic theory, and a prolific author. Mises’ writings and lectures encompassed economic theory, history, epistemology, government, and political philosophy. His contributions to economic theory include important clarifications on the quantity theory of money, the theory of the trade cycle, the integration of monetary theory with economic theory in general, and a demonstration that socialism must fail because it cannot solve the problem of economic calculation. Mises was the first scholar to recognize that economics is part of a larger science in human action, a science which Mises called “praxeology”. He taught at the University of Vienna and later at New York University. Mises wrote many works on two related economic themes: 1. monetary economics, inflation, and the role of government, and 2. the differences between government-controlled economies and free trade. His influential work on economic freedoms, their causes and consequences, brought him to highlight the interrelationships between economic and non-economic freedoms in societies, and the appropriate role for government.

For more information see the following:

Things of Note:

  • the main Mises page:
  • books by Mises published by Liberty Fund [20 titles]: Liberty Fund Library of the Works of Ludwig von Mises
  • the Glossary prepared by Bettina Bien Greaves for vol. 4 of Human Action
  • LvM’s dissertation: Ludwig von Mises, Die Entwicklung des gutsherrlich-bäuerlichen Verhältnisses in Galizien (1772-1848) (Wien und Leipzig: Franz Deuticke, 1902). . This is Mises dissertation which began his academic career. It is about the liberation of the peasants in Galicia under reform-minded Kaisers and bureaucrats from just before the French Revolution up to the outbreak of the 1848 Revolution.
  • Images of Liberty: “Mises on Rationing and Price Controls in WW2”
  • chapters by Mises in “The Best of the OLL” Collection:
    • The Best of the OLL No. 3: Ludwig von Mises, “The Economics of War” (1949) (2013)
    • The Best of the OLL No. 4: Ludwig von Mises, “Liberty and Property” (October, 1958) (2013) .

Books by Mises in the OLL

Liberty Fund is republishing many of the works of Ludwig von Mises as part of The Liberty Fund Library of the Works of Ludwig von Mises . The volumes edited by Bettina Bien Greaves include:

  • The Anti-capitalist Mentality (1956)
  • Bureaucracy (1944)
  • Economic Freedom and Interventionism (1990)
  • Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow (1979) Epistemological Problems of Economics [to come]
  • Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, in 4 vols. (1949, 1996)
  • Interventionism: An Economic Analysis (1940)
  • Liberalism: The Classical Tradition (1962)
  • *Money, Method, and the Market Process [to come]
  • Nation, State, and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time (1919)
  • Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (1944)
  • On the Manipulation of Money and Credit: Three Treatises on Trade-Cycle Theory (1978)
  • Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work. A Collection of Essays and Addresses (1952)
  • Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis (1922)
  • Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution (1957)
  • The Theory of Money and Credit (1912)
  • The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method (1962)

The volumes edited by Richard M. Ebeling include:

  • Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises
    • Volume 1: Monetary and Economic Problems Before, During, and After the Great War (2012)
    • Volume 2: Between the Two World Wars: Monetary Disorder, Interventionism, Socialism, and the Great Depression
    • Volume 3: The Political Economy of International Reform and Reconstruction

Other works by Mises in the OLL:

  • Die Entwicklung des gutsherrlich-bäuerlichen Verhältnisses in Galizien (1772-1848) (1902)
  • “Finance and Banking in the Austrian Empire and the Republic of Austria,” Encyclopedia Britannica (1921)
  • Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (FEE ed.) (1949)
  • Liberalism: A Socio-Economic Exposition (IHS ed.) (1962)
  • Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution (1957)

Other Resources

Reading Lists:

  • An Introduction to the Major Writings of Ludwig von Mises
  • Hayek and von Mises on Liberty, Socialism, and Interventionism (URL???)
  • 50th Anniversary Anthology of the Works of Ludwig von Mises. The following is an anthology of the writings of the great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) who was the acknowledged leader of the Austrian School of economic thought, a prodigious originator in economic theory, and a prolific author. Mises’ writings and lectures encompassed economic theory, history, epistemology, government, and political philosophy. His contributions to economic theory include important clarifications on the quantity theory of money, the theory of the trade cycle, the integration of monetary theory with economic theory in general, and a demonstration that socialism must fail because it cannot solve the problem of economic calculation. Mises was the first scholar to recognize that economics is part of a larger science in human action, a science which Mises called “praxeology”. He taught at the University of Vienna and later at New York University. Mises wrote many works on two related economic themes: monetary economics, inflation, and the role of government, and the differences between government-controlled economies and free trade. His influential work on economic freedoms, their causes and consequences, brought him to highlight the interrelationships between economic and non-economic freedoms in societies, and the appropriate role for government. (URL???)

Quotations by Mises:

  • Ludwig von Mises laments the passing of the Age of Limited Warfare and the coming of Mass Destruction in the Age of Statism and Conquest (1949)
  • Ludwig von Mises argues that the division of labor and human cooperation are the two sides of the same coin and are not antagonistic to each other (1949)
  • Ludwig von Mises argues that monopolies are the direct result of government intervention and not the product of any inherent tendency within the capitalist system (1949)
  • Ludwig von Mises shows the inevitability of economic slumps after a period of credit expansion (1951)
  • Ludwig von Mises identifies the source of the disruption of the world monetary order as the failed policies of governments and their central banks (1934)
  • Ludwig von Mises lays out five fundamental truths of monetary expansion (1949)
  • Ludwig von Mises argues that sound money is an instrument for the protection of civil liberties and a means of limiting government power (1912)
  • Ludwig von Mises on the impossibility of rational economic planning under Socialism (1922)
  • Mises on human action, predicting the future, and who will win the World Cup Football tournament (1966)
  • Mises on the gold standard as the symbol of international peace and prosperity (1949)
  • Mises on the interconnection between economic and political freedom (1949)
  • Mises on the public sector as “tax eaters” who “feast” on the assets of the ordinary tax payer (1953)
  • Mises and the Emergence of Etatism in Germany (1944)
  • Mises on how price controls lead to socialism (1944)
  • Mises on classical liberalism and the gold standard (1928)
  • The 11th Day of Christmas: Mises on the gold standard and peace on earth (1934)
  • Mises on the worship of the state or statolatry (1944)