Mises Institute

The Ludwig von Mises Institute is a research center, founded in 1982, that is dedicated to supporting the intellectual tradition, particularly in economic and political theory, represented by Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).

Mission

The Institute, founded with the blessing of Mises's widow, Margit (1890-1993), who served as chairman, sponsors teaching programs and professional meetings, publishes journals and books, makes available audio and video, offers student assistance, and otherwise provides a wide range of services to uphold the Misesian tradition. The Institute does not consider itself a traditional think tank, as it does not seek to implement public policy. It has no formal affiliation with any political party (including the Libertarian Party), nor does it receive funding from any. The Institute also has a formal policy of not accepting contract work from corporations or other organizations, or accepting government funding.

Its declared mission is to back research and writing in defense of Austrian economics, the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive. It is based in Auburn, Alabama.

There are also several other Institutes and websites with the same name throughout the world, including those in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Poland, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Ecuador and Romania. However, the Institute has no formal ties with any of them.

History

The founding of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in 1982, with the aid of Margit von Mises as well as Hayek and Hazlitt, provided a range of new opportunities for both Rothbard and the Austrian School. Through a steady stream of academic conferences, instructional seminars, books, monographs, newsletters, studies, and even films, Rothbard and the Mises Institute carried the Austrian School forward into the post-socialist age.

The first issue of the Rothbard-edited Review of Austrian Economics appeared in 1987, and became a quarterly in 1998, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. The Mises Institute's instructional summer school has been held every year since 1984. For many of these years, Rothbard presented his research into the history of economic thought. This culminated in his two-volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, which broadens the history of the discipline to encompass centuries of writing.

Through the Mises Institute's student fellowships, study guides, bibliographies, and conferences, the Austrian School has permeated, at some level, virtually every department of economics and the social sciences in America, and in many foreign countries as well. The annual Austrian Scholars Conference at Auburn University attracts scholars from around the world to discuss, debate, and apply the entire Austrian tradition.

External Links

• "The Mises Institute", homesite
• Mises Institute, Wikipedia page