What is Ludwig von Mises best known for in economics?
Ludwig von Mises is best known for developing praxeology, a deductive framework for understanding human decision-making and economic behavior, and for articulating the Economic Calculation Problem in 1920. He argued that rational economic activity is impossible in a socialist commonwealth because central planners lack the price signals needed to allocate resources efficiently. His 1949 book Human Action: A Treatise on Economics is considered his most influential work.
When and where was Ludwig von Mises born?
Ludwig von Mises was born on the 29th of September 1881 in Lemberg, then the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a city now part of Ukraine and known as Lviv. He died on the 10th of October 1973 at the age of 92 and is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
What did Ludwig von Mises write about fascism?
In his 1927 book Liberalism, Mises described fascism as an emergency makeshift and called it a fatal error to treat it as more than a temporary measure. In his 1922 book Socialism he called Mussolini one of the most wretched figures of history. In his 1944 book Omnipotent Government he called on the Allies to smash Nazism and fight until the Nazi power was completely broken.
Who were Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard in relation to Ludwig von Mises?
Friedrich Hayek first came to know Mises while working as his subordinate at a government office dealing with Austria's post-World War I debt, and later studied under him at the University of Vienna from 1913 to 1938. Murray Rothbard studied under Mises at his New York University seminar and went on to develop anarcho-capitalist philosophy; Rothbard was also a co-founder of the Mises Institute, established in 1982.
What is the Mises Institute and when was it founded?
The Mises Institute was founded in 1982 by Lew Rockwell, Burton Blumert, and Murray Rothbard, following a split between Rothbard and the Cato Institute. It was funded by Ron Paul and is located in Alabama. It publishes thousands of free books by Mises and other Austrian economists and runs summer seminars.
How did Ludwig von Mises end up at New York University?
Mises fled Austria in 1934 for Geneva, then escaped to the United States in 1940 via France, Spain, and Portugal as Nazi occupation threatened to isolate Switzerland. He arrived in New York City under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and received support from the William Volker Fund. He became a visiting professor at New York University in 1945 and held that position until 1969; his salary was funded privately by Lawrence Fertig, a businessman who sat on the university's Board of Trustees.