Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was an Austrian economist and the founder of, well, Austrian Economics. He can also be considered the forefather of the libertarian movement, and was the mentor of Murray Rothbard and F.A. Hayek. The former would later name the Ludwig von Mises Institute in his honor.

Before becoming known for his academic work, von Mises was the chief economist for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, and a close advisor to Austrofascist dictator Engelbert Dollfuss. He later left Austria during the rise of the Nazi influence in the country, who he viewed as a dangerous threat. So we can give him credit for being opposed to the literal Nazis, at least.

His most famous work, however, was his book *Human Action*, where he explained his theory of economics, based on a description of human action that he called Praxeology. The details are discussed in that article, but the important notes are that it was completely deductive from first principles, rather than being built in response to study or evidence; and that it amounted to a defense of classical laissez faire economics in a period when classical economic principles were facing large-scale predictive failures.

## Quotes

"Praxeology is a theoretical and systematic, not a historical, science. Its scope is human action as such, irrespective of all environmental, accidental, and individual circumstances of the concrete acts. Its cognition is purely formal and general without reference to the material content and the particular features of the actual case. It aims at knowledge valid for all instances in which the conditions exactly correspond to those implied in its assumptions and inferences. **Its statements and propositions are not derived from experience. They are, like those of logic and mathematics, a priori. They are not subject to verification or falsification on the ground of experience and facts.** They are both logically and temporally antecedent to any comprehension of historical facts."

“So much for the domestic policy of Fascism. That its foreign policy, based as it is on the avowed principle of force in international relations, cannot fail to give rise to an endless series of wars that must destroy all of modern civilization requires no further discussion. To maintain and further raise our present level of economic development, peace among nations must be assured. But they cannot live together in peace if the basic tenet of the ideology by which they are governed is the belief that one's own nation can secure its place in the community of nations by force alone.

**It cannot be denied that Fascism and similar movements aiming at the establishment of dictatorships are full of the best intentions and that their intervention has, for the moment, saved European civilization. The merit that Fascism has thereby won for itself will live on eternally in history.** But though its policy has brought salvation for the moment, it is not of the kind which could promise continued success. Fascism was an emergency makeshift. To view it as something more would be a fatal error.”

## References

1. ↑ Hans-Hermann Hoppe, "The Meaning of the Mises Papers." https://mises.org/library/meaning-mises-papers
2. ↑ *Human Action*, Ch. 2.
3. ↑ *Liberalismus*, 1927. Quote from the 1978 English translation.