is therefore my great pleasure and honor to introduce dr. Yisrael person
thank you very much for that warm introduction I have been asked to speak
about the importance of Ludwig Mises it is for me both a pleasure and a
challenge to tackle this formidable task and it is a special pleasure to do so at
Hillsdale College an institution which has for decades unfashionably but
proudly announced its deep respect and regard to this great neglected thinker
scholar and economist I myself take pleasure in this task because living
Mises was my revered teacher who shaped and formed my entire career as an
economist but although living Mises was certainly important very important for
my own career my talk will go far beyond my personal story
Mises is important for the intellectual history of the 20th century and beyond
he will I suspect an indeed expect be treated at an important figure in the
long run development of economic theory future historians of economic thought
will I believe in hope be unable to tell the story of economics
in the 21st century without citing the part played by Ludwig Mises in the
twentieth nonetheless I will with apologies begin my discussion of the
importance of living Mises with a brief account of his importance for me
personally I began my studies under Mises in September 54 I completed my
doctoral dissertation under his guidance and supervision in June 57 virtually all
my writings and publications over the following six decades merely expressed
what I learned from Mises not only in the years 54 to 57 but in the many
subsequent year of my attendance at the seminars and in
the many years during which I studied and that means I sucked myself in and
agonized over his books and papers although not all of my interpretations
of Mises have been accepted by all other of Misa students I do believe that I
have succeeded in correctly grasping what is central in the misison system I
was privileged to serve as Mises assistant for a number of years not only
did Mises supervise my doctoral dissertation which eventually became my
first book on earth with a foreword by mrs. himself
it was Mises who suggested my dissertation topic in doing so
Mises led me to develop a theme in my session economics which has illuminated
my understanding of economics in general and has throughout my career inspired my
published work but as promised this talk is not focused on Mises importance for
me it will demonstrate I hope Mises importance in much more
important respects who was Ludwig Mises Mises his dates for 1881 to 1973 is
known primarily as a consistent dedicated continued ATAR of the Austrian
School of Economics and a consistent defender of free-market capitalism
although he was educated at the University of Vienna he was not exposed
to the Austrian ideas of manga birimbau work and visa until he was well advanced
in his own doctoral studies his teachers had been adherents of the German
historical school which in the pre-world War one years of the 20th century still
dominated many institutions indeed in the years before his receiving his
doctorate in nineteen six Mises had published papers in that same tradition
in the year 1903 Mises tells us in the memoir written in
his old age he tells us that he read mangas Bruins Ibsen apparently this
reading opened Mises eyes to a whole new world of ideas it was that reading of
mangas book missus declared that turned him into an economist after receiving
his doctorate Mises attended the seminar led by Barbara Birk who after an
illustrious experience as Austria's Minister of Finance returned to academia
at the University of Vienna in 1905 in 1908 Mises embarked on his first book
which was eventually published in 1912 under a title which translated into
English is the theory of money and credit by the start of World War one
Mises was well established as an economist and the Austrian Chamber of
Commerce Commerce a quasi governmental body directly concerned with national
commercial and industrial policy after the war
Mises came to be recognized as that institutions leading figure and he was
thereafter deeply involved in all the critical issues confronting Austria in
the 15 years following the war in these issues
he was particularly involved in attempting to resist the massive
inflation of currency which threatens to ruin the country and he was also
particularly involved to resist the influence of the followers of Marxist
ideas who were attempting to introduce socialism into the Austrian scene
besides all this work on public policy Mises was on the faculty of the
University of Vienna with a purpose oriole title but he never did win the
profession the professorial chair very importantly Mises conducted a private
seminar the private seminar that met regularly not at the university but in
his office at the chamber of commerce this private seminar included some of
the best young minds in the social sciences not only in economics but in
history political theory and sociology a number of these brilliant young
intellectuals such as Hayek were later to become world famous scholars Mises
was one of the leading intellectuals of the Vienna scene during the 20s it was
he who attracted and stimulated these brilliant young minds the books which
Mises published during these Vienna years established him as a leading
proponent of classical liberal ideas and a trenchant critic of socialism early in
the 30s Mises published a book in which he
expanded his methodological and epistemological ideas these ideas were
sharply critical of some of the more fashionable views on the methodology of
the social sciences that were gaining currency on the continent and in the UK
at that time by the end of the 30s Mises found himself severely I would say
viciously attacked for his unpopular methodological ideas in addition the
pendulum of ideological thought in the social sciences was swinging sharply
during those years in the direction of socialist and interventionist policy
against which Mises was emphatically doing battle most importantly the
political unrest developing in Europe during the 30s and Mises owning
potential danger at the hands of Nazi officials led Mises to leave Vienna
first for Geneva and then in 1940 for the USA all this meant the breakup of
the group of intellectuals who had been fascinated by Mises in Vienna when Mises
finally arrived in the US with mrs. Mises whom had marriage in Geneva in
1938 twelve years after having first proposed to her and
after years of hesitation when he arrived at mrs. Mises he was no longer a
leader of the of an Austrian school in fact there really was no Austrian school
at that time Mises was now an almost 60 year old unaffiliated academic whose
ideas were entirely out of step with what was being taught by the new leading
figures of the American economics profession Mises never did gain an
academic position in the United States commensurate with his stature as a
leading economist nonetheless he did not shrink into a bitter isolated
unproductive old age he continued to produce books and papers while
continuing to teach with the support of outside sponsors at New York University
he found intellectual comradeship in Leonard Reed's foundation for economic
education under whose auspices he was continuing to publish although he never
did succeed in attracting young American scholars of the caliber of those who
attended his Vienna seminars he was teaching and affecting a number of
bright young minds such as Murray Rothbard and others on the 50th
anniversary of his receiving his doctorate his admirers published a fish
drift in his honor a second publication the two-volume
festival in honor of Mises 90th birthday appeared in 1971 although he was ignored
and or belittled in the post in the broader post-world War post-world War
two economics profession there was still many scholars and lay persons who
recognized his true stature and who admired his intellectual integrity in
remaining utterly consistent with what he believes on scientific grounds to be
the truth his uncompromising advocacy of completely safe fair
absolutely free markets while it rendered him extremely unfashionable did
on the other hand mark him as a fearless and defender of undiluted capitalism and
drew the support of a significant number of lay conservatives Mises could not be
ignored after Mises death in 1973 his wife
continued to publish his writings and lectures
Betina being grieves one of Mises most debated and enthusiastic American
admirers published a massive monumental bibliography of all of Mises works over
his seven decade career and as we shall see his work has ever since his death
continued to attract the interest of a significant number of young
intellectuals both in the US Europe and around the globe now our brief survey of
Mises life in Korea might tempt one to conclude that although Mises may have
been a prominent Vienna intellectual during the interwar decades but this
ought not to permit us now in the 21st century to see him as an important 20th
century scholar after all it may be objected despite his earlier prominence
he appears to have been a marginalised figure during the concluding decades of
his life his central ideas came to be thoroughly discredited by the mainstream
of his profession he never did after 1940 exercised direct influence upon
students in any of the leading universities of his time the final four
decades of his life was spent in relative obscurity with his published
writings being read during these years by a rather small number of zealous
adherents none of whom was prominent in the academic world also that matter
prominent in any sense perhaps it may thus be objected Mises may have had some
import yes for his small group of dedicated
followers but surely in the broader framework of 20th century scientific and
intellectual achievement he must be seen as no more than a marginal figure my
talk today will seek to address this kind of objection I shall seek to
demonstrate that despite the studied neglect with which is more prominent
contemporaries treated his unfashionable ideas those ideas do qualify as
important in the larger framework of intellectual history future historians
of twentieth century economic theory will I am confident be compelled to
recognize that importance the failure of the leading economist of his own time to
recognize that importance will itself become a puzzle with which future
historians of economic thought will be forced to grapple what I'd like to do is
to discuss first Mises importance as both a pioneer of and a consistent
consistent participant in the debates surrounding the demonstration of the
incoherence in fact the impossibility of central socialist planning this alone
certainly qualifies Mises as an important twentieth century economist
second I will dwell on Mises role in advancing the subjectivist ideas of the
Austrian School of Economics ought to an entirely new level the circumstance that
this advance occurred precisely at the time when it was generally believed that
the Austrian school was no longer a vital component of twentieth-century
economics that circumstance makes the role played by Mises even more dramatic
and important third the in fact which Mises writings have had on a new younger
generation of economists which in our time is creating a new wave of inter
an academic excellence eped ability for the subjectivist ideas of the Austrian
school there is every reason to see this impact as both remarkable and important
let me take up the first of these three themes Mises and the economics of
socialism in 1920 Mises published a German language article in the
professional social science journal which stirred wide interest and set up a
vigorous heated debate that is still going on in that article Mises was
addressing attempts in the immediate post work work World War one years to
replace the capitalist economic system with genuine socialism both in Austria
itself and elsewhere Mises attacks such proposals not on ideological grounds but
on the basis of their try economic science an understanding of how the
market system works towards the coordinated pattern of resource
allocation reveals how under central planning any pattern of resource
allocation achieved must be seen to be chaotic inevitably contributing
contributing to global inefficiency an economic disaster two years later 1922
Mises followed up his journal article with a full-length book treatment of
socialism that book included a chapter virtually repeating the central
challenge that had constituted the core of his earlier article socialists have
always criticized capitalism as constituting an anarchy of production
obviously they said a central plan must be a rational improvement Mises
demonstrated exactly the opposite not only with central planning not succeed
it must inevitably be a disaster Mises argument demonstrating the impossibility
the impossibility of central planning depended on the universal need for
economic calculation any attempt to achieve efficiency at any level requires
the rational calculation of the benefits and costs associated with any proposed
course of action each step taken whether by Robinson Crusoe isolated on an island
by a participant in that market system or by a central planning authorities
seeking to improve society societal conditions any step taken must be taken
with awareness of what that step can bring in terms a of additional output or
consumption purchase and of what that step might cost in terms of alternatives
which are being sacrificed in order to take this step Crusoe may make that
calculation in physical terms if he spends the day catching fish he can
compare the value to him of the prospective fish with a value to him of
the fruit which he might have obtained say by climbing trees instead of
catching fish the consumer in the supermarket can compare the value of any
given purchase with the value of alternative purchases a manufacturer can
compare the output obtainable from a marginal units of labour with the price
you must pay to hire that unit of labour and so on economic calculation but a
central planning authority in any advanced complex economy has no way of
making such an economic calculation by definition the fully socialized economy
has no market prices for resource services because no market is permitted
in this economy to the sale and purchase of resource services the central
planning Authority cannot ever know step it proposes to take in the
production process is or is not costing the economy more than it is worth even
if the centrally promulgated plan succeeds in fitting all available units
of resource service into what seems a coherent jigsaw puzzle solution so that
all plans projects Oh planned projects can be carried out
as planned this does not in the slightest imply that this centrally
promulgated plan is from the societal perspective efficiently the planners
have no way of knowing whether some other central plan might not have been a
far superior plan from the perspective of the planners themselves what operates
to ensure that in the free market system resources do tend to be used for
purposes which thought which consumers find most desirable not enough gear
production is that producers are constrained by resource prices it is the
resource price reflecting the potential bits of competing producers who might
put that unit of resource to work in some alternative industry which the
successful bidder must pay ensuring that in his best entrepreneurial judgment
consumers value its marginal product more highly than they value is
corresponding marginal product in alternative industries no one claims
these calculations made by entrepreneurial producers are
necessarily accurate of course producers are less than omniscient not only in
regard to the future but even in regard to present market conditions but at
least the market system does ensure that production activity is calculated all
production decisions are made in the context of anticipated resource prices
and of anticipated consumer goods prices a sense of
planning authority lacking any framework of resource prices must be seen as
operating in the dark even if we imagine the socialist authorities to permit
consumers to compete with each other in consumer markets quote-unquote and thus
to generate quote unquote market prices for consumer goods these authorities
cannot by the very definition of socialism refer to any market generate
generated resource prices economic calculation under central planning is
simply impossible efficient central planning is a contradiction in terms
this exclusive demonstration by Mises was precisely that explosive it stirs a
vigorous even ferocious interwar debate first in the German language continental
journals and several years later in the British in the British economic journals
by the outbreak of World War two despite strong support for this mr. sheean
argument by Friedrich Hayek the bulk of mainstream professional opinion was
running against Mises argument separate articles by Oscar Lengai and by a burpee
Lerner in the mid 30s these were defenders of socialism these
articles deploying the newly fashionable versions of equilibrium micro economic
price theory seemed to many influential economists to demonstrate the
possibility at least of a centrally planned economy which could operate with
resource quote/unquote prices generated without any free market for resources in
the textbooks immediately following the end of World War two it became the new
orthodoxy to recognize the problems the problem holds so starkly by misses but
to maintain that ingenious central planners could bypass that problem
simple the Mises and also Hayek never did accept these solutions they
dismissed the idea of non market resource prices that is prices created
without the benefit of profit motivated entrepreneurial judgment our point here
however is not to demonstrate the truth of Mises reasoning that's not our focus
tonight in the face of criticisms originating in the 30s our point is to
emphasize that throughout the debate both in the interwar years and in the
post-world War two years the issues raised by Mises in 1920 continued to
command the attention of economists of all schools even when the Mississippian
argument was being dismissed if critics were forced to recognize the importance
and validity of the concerns raised in that argument in fact by the end of the
century Mises argument was no longer being being
somewhere else' merrily dismissed significant work was being published
forcing economists to reconsider their earlier rejection of this argument our
thesis and this part of our talk today is thus to point out that in this still
ongoing debate concerning economic calculation under socialism Mises
contribution was unquestionably an important one and widely recognized as
an important one it was a contribution that kept his name importantly at the
center of numerous twentieth-century controversies in regard to the faith
feasibility of socialism we shall have occasion later in this talk to return to
the substantive issue of whether mrs. position in these controversies ought to
be accepted we turn now to discuss Mises importance in the second theme that is
in the ongoing development of the Austrian traditions in the modern
history of economic court I give this section the title Mises and the survival
of Austrian economics as we noted earlier the reputation of
the Austrian school in the larger economics profession had by about World
War two reached a low point both Mises and Hayek were no longer in Vienna many
of the bright young economists of Vienna of the twenties fritz machlup gottfried
haberler Oskar Morgenstern and others were in the United States scattered
among different universities some of the main positions associated with the
leading Austrians had it was widely believed be refuted thus it was held
that Hayek had been bested in regards to macroeconomic issues by Keynes
Austrian capital theoretic insights that means buhbuh buhbuh Burkean capital
theoretical sight had it was it was believed been successfully rejected by
Frank Knight Mises a prior ISM as a methodological foundation had been
widely discredited even Mises thesis declaring the impossibility of central
planning had as we know this was widely believed been successfully repelled
perhaps more importantly a number of the younger erstwhile Austrians honestly
believed that what was both valid and distinctive in Austrian economics such
as attention to subjectivist insights or the idea of costs being seen merely as
foregone opportunities it was believed that by the end of the 30s these these
insights had been thoroughly absorbed into being part of the generally
accepted mainstream understanding so that up coming former Austrians such as
Chris McCloskey Morgenstern did not believe it was necessary to insist on
retaining any defining description as Austrian it was they apparently felt
more productive to scientific purposes to pursue economic theorizing within the
broader mainstream shared by the most prominent names
in the profession at any rate all this meant that for mid-century historians of
economic thought the Austrian School of Economics was a term referring to a
group of Viennese scholars that was no longer an active element in contemporary
economics that was the scene at the close of World War two
I remember this personally very well when I began studying and in in the in
very early 50s the Austrian school was treated in the texts of the history of
economic thought as bygone something had been important no longer important this
was the scene yet today some 65 years later we again and again encounter young
economists who identified themselves as followers of the Austrian tradition sub
C resurgence of interest in the tradition thought to have petered out
two generations ago is something to be noticed it is an important phenomenon in
the history of economic thought and it is a development for which Mises and his
work must be accorded a major share of the credit if for nothing else
Mises importance must be recognized for his role in generating this revival to
put it somewhere differently the circumstance that Mises works since the
40s eventually contributed significantly to
such a revival of Austrian ideas make that work the work after the 1940s and
Mises himself important elements in the history of twentieth-century economics
how did all this come about I believe that the story is not a simple one I
believe it should be told as follows during the 1937 1948 decade both Mises
and Hayek separately clarified the earliest teachings of the Austrian
tradition in new ways which taken together constitute at least in
retrospect they constitute an important advance in economic understanding
precisely during the period in which which word in which it was widely held
that the Austrian school was already or was about to be defunct Mises and Hayek
were significantly deepening that schools teachings clearly the Austrian
tradition was still very much alive but the story is even more complicated we
mentioned earlier that contributing to the widespread impression that the
Austrian tradition was no longer alive after the 30s contributing to this was a
feeling among a number of younger Austrians and I mentioned McLoughlin
Morgenstern that that which had been distinctively important in the Austrian
tradition such as subjectivism in German theory or the idea of opportunity cost
has been successfully implanted into mainstream economic theory although in
retrospect it may seem surprising the truth is that even Mises at least in the
early 30s shared in the opinion that there was not much substantive
difference between the economic understanding of the Austrian tradition
and that of other quote/unquote modern schools of economic thought such as the
anglo-american school as he described it and the school of law some swirl raised
in school a passage in Mises 1933 book approvingly cites the view that these
schools and the Austrian school are all expressing the same fundamental idea
although they are separated by only their terminology and by the
peculiarities of presentation these differences Mises then maintained did
not affect the shared substance of their teachings I can only point out the
amazing amazing aspect of this paragraph in Mises I studied under Mises in the
early 50s just twenty years later, twenty years is nothing as you know.
Twenty years later Mises would never have written or agreed to a statement like that,
there's nothing separating the Austrian school from the anglo-American Lausanne school
he would never have said that.
he was emphasizing the difference yes that's what he wrote in 1933.
My position is that it was only
their experience of the ferocious debate concerning the possibility of economic calculation
of the socialism that revealed to Mises and Hayek by the end of the thirties
that this agreement between the schools, on substance, have almost totally evaporated.
Defenders of the possibility of central planning
were grounding their case in the teachings of mainstream price theory
while for Mises and for Hayek
it was price theory that demonstrated the absolute impossibility of central planning.
Clearly it was necessary to restate the established teachings
which they had imbibed with the Austrian tradition in a way which
should sharply dissociate those teachings
from what was apparently and to Mises dismay
becoming the new neoclassical orthodoxy.
In Mises writings and separately in those of Hayek
during this 1937-1948 decade we find therefore
insights being articulated which had hitherto even in the Austrian tradition
being accepted only implicitly.
it is plausible to suggest that both Mises and Hayek
did not at least initially see themselves as contributing new insights
to the Austrian tradition.
it is likely that they saw themselves as simply
pointing out rather obvious aspects of the market economy which the refinements
of the new mathematize versions of mainstream microeconomics apparently obscured.
In retrospect however I think we have to maintain
that we have to recognize these separate contributions of Mises and Hayek
as constituting a major advance in Austrian teaching.
This advance although it was not fully recognized as such at that time even by Mises himself,
that advance can be seen as an important deepening and strengthening of the Austrian
subjectivist understanding of how the market works.
In retrospect we can also recognize that as younger economists during the later decades of the 20th
century came to appreciate these new contributions of Mises they came to
appreciate his work more generally and thus to bring about the remarkable
Austrian revival that we have witnessed so that I would strongly maintain Mises
must be acknowledged as an important figure in twentieth-century economic
thought for this his pivotal role in deepening and thus perpetuating the
foundations of the Austrian school Mises unquestionably the most important figure
responsible for the survival of the subjectivist teachings of the Austrian
school in the in the next few minutes I will brief I will try to show briefly
how this contribution to the advancement of the Austrian tradition complement and
undergirds Mises critique of the possibility of central economic planning
which with which we dealt with earlier we have noted that it was the experience
of the socialist economic calculation debate that seemed to brought home to me
sis and also to Hayek how far the new modern microeconomics of the 30s had
gone in abandoning the earlier economic verities shared by virtually all schools
of economic thought defenders of the possibility of central planning believed
that the central planners by deploying their understanding of neoclassical
price theory would be able to generate non-market quote unquote prices for
research services which would then make economic calculation possible the
planners would not be operating in the dark these non market resource prices
would enable them to steer resource use away from production processes that are
less valued by consumers towards products and methods of production in
which these resource services are fulfilling consumer needs that are more
rigidly preferred although this is not the place at the time for a careful
detailed dissection of this mainstream counter-argument to Mises explosive
demonstration of the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism
nonetheless we should take note of the following this mainstream
counter-argument is operating with a price theory that is shaped entirely by
the theory of the perfectly competitive while raising general equilibrium state
of affairs this counter argument thus fails utterly to recognize the
entrepreneurial character of pre market processes which might conceivably be
held to confuse the equilibria state of affairs this entrepreneurial character
of the market process entails our recognition of the dynamic competitive
process under non equilibrium conditions and requires also our recognition that
it is entrepreneurial alertness to profit possibly pure profit
possibilities and those possibilities are possible only under non equilibrium
conditions which is the element that makes possible expanding mutual
awareness on the part of market participants it is only the
entrepreneurial discoveries so made which drive the market process through
which such expanding mutual awareness might be achieved defenders of the
possibility of socialist economic calculation have
not showing us any substitute and the central planning without the possibility
of entity illiteracy profitable market opportunities that might correspond to
this entrepreneurial process under a central planning regime so what we have
seen here is the linkage between Mises importance as responsible to the
celebrated in toward the based on the possibility of socialist central
planning and his importance in the deepening of and enhancement of the
traditional course Objectivist insight characteristic of the Austrian tradition
the third thing that I mentioned earlier is the Austrian resurgence a number of
younger economists came during the past half-century to recognize validity and
depth in the subjectivist teachings of the Austrian tradition particularly as
expounded by Mises a good deal has already been written about this
remarkable development in modern economics it was not a development
drawing on any unanimous new perspective among these younger economies one can
hardly imagine a greater contrast than that separating the worldview of Ludwig
Lachman from that of Murray Rothbard yet each of these scholars along with
many others played important roles in inspiring younger curious kept tech
dedicated graduate students to appreciate the contributions of logic
Mises karel van over two decades ago wrote an entire book describing the
disagreements mocking this austrian resurgence peter becky has in his own
prolific writings and his remarkable influence upon today's crop of graduate
students played a key role in contributing to the continued resurgence
of interest in the Austrian tradition during the two decades since the
appearance of Karen Barnes pioneering work this risk resurgence has generated
not of course anything like a revolution the mainstream thinking we're not there
yet but it has generated an intellectual atmosphere that has permitted
significant numbers of followers of the Austrian subjectivist tradition in the
United States in Europe and around the world to publish and teach something
that half a century ago could hardly have been imagined only time can tell
whether this resurgence now almost half century old will continue and expand and
perhaps leave a more permanent imprint on the wider world of economic thinking
but as we consider the life the work and the long-run importance of Ludwig Mises
surely the Austrian resurgence demands that we acknowledge Mises decisive role
in this intellectual development this is part of why Mises is indeed important
but I want to conclude with in with a new the different theme thus far we have
spoken of Lisak Mises as the foremost scholar of the Austrian school certainly
it was in that role that Mises the economic theorist is best known but the
importance of Mises is not confined to the history of his contributions to the
Austrian tradition or to the impacts which these contributions made in the
broader economics profession the publishers blurb to my own ix tomorrow
in 2001 book Ludwig von Mises the matter is economics the publishers blurb
includes the following words the importance of little big for Mises is
not limited to the realm of economics Mises exercised enormous influence of
the thoughts of libertarians anti-communist liberals and even
traditionalist conservatives during the post-war years for Mises the tenets of
classical liberal political theory corresponded profoundly with the
fundamental truths of economics that's what the blurb writer wrote wasn't
leaked in other words Mises The Economist was at the same time
the passionate intellectual defender of the free society as envisioned in
classical liberalism Mises surely claims our recognition as being important also
for the broader area of political ideology and it's intellectual
foundations Mises is fierce advocacy of free-market economics was founded not
merely on the profundity of his excite if ik insights it was grounded in
addition on his in his passionate concern for the future of mankind and to
the retention to what he saw as the crucial importance of civil liberty in
fact it was this passion which on occasion provided fodder for his
scientific critics Mises his critics claimed was permitting his ideology to
steer his science thus jeopardizing the disinterested objectivity which meets is
constantly claimed should and did govern his scientific work but the truth is
that Mises was completely sincere in his belief that cuase I insist it is
necessary to adhere to an attitude of vert freiheit his value freedom that is
Mises full heartedly subscribed to mocks Labor's doctrine that a scientist may
not in his capacity of scientists permit his own personal preferences to affect
his scientific conclusions a scientist who considers pipe-smoking
to be a disgusting practice may not commit that personal value judgment to
play any role in his scientific investigations into possible linkages
between type smoking and the incidence of different types of cancer
the latter investigation must be conducted in a manner that would
convince the public of the validity of its conclusions even were that public to
thoroughly enjoy pipe smoking Mises certainly believe that his free-market
economic theories which be exactly the same even if he as an
individual citizen were personally to prefer massive government regulations of
prices incomes and methods of production because Mises believed that once it has
been established scientifically as Mises the scientists believed that it had been
established once it has been assigned typically established that massive
governmental regulation of otherwise free markets tends to severely harm the
well-being of a nation citizens and does so by seriously diminishing their
liberties Mises the citizen could not remain silent the concluding passages of
Mises scientific treatise on economics that's his human action constitute a
passionate plea to the recognition of Mises scientific conclusion a scientist
a scientist who has scientifically established that a certain crafts
practice drastically shortens man's life span is not violating his vet freiheit
by passionately emotionally pleading for the end of that practice so that while
Mises the Austrian economist is primarily important for his scientific
role we should certainly take knows of his important work as a citizen
supporting the political ideology of classical liberalism the ascendancy of
this political ideology Mises makes clear in many of his writings is a
crucially important objective an objective consistent with the
perpetuation of a prosperous civilization Mises the important
Austrian economist was at the same time and certainly not accidentally the
important exponent of the civil benefits of the free market society this facet of
Mises importance deserves to be underlined in regard to one additional
aspect of Mises life and career this aspect is his intellectual integrity
Mises is sometimes described as having been
intransigent this is not the place to analyze Mises personality in all its
aspects all the laudatory observations in my
talk today who have not been meant to constitute an overall assessment of
Mises character and goodness mrs. Mises who certainly understood that goodness
represented by her husband's life found it necessary in her personal
reminiscences of her life with him to mention that Mises was at one time prone
to sudden fits the fierce anger that terrified her certainly any complete
discussion of Mises as a person would have to take into account many aspects
both positive and negative that have not been dealt with in this talk but that's
not our purpose today our talk on the importance of Mises would surely be
serious incomplete seriously incomplete were we to fail to
point out that what may have appeared to some as Mises intransigence must more
accurately and truthfully be identified as or at least linked to his personal
and intellectual integrity Mises suffered as we noted earlier severe
neglect at the hands of the economic profession once the foremost figure at
the international level of scholarly repute his final decades saw him scorned
by the Prix by the post wars leading economists Mises calmly accepted this
without bending he continued to write what he believed to be the truth
regardless of the consequences to his personal scholarly reputation or his
personal financial situation critics may wish to see this as evidence of his
intransigence obstinacy or whatever I firmly believe this to be an expression
of Mises is absolute incorruptible intellectual and personal integrity
descriptions of mrs. Vienna seminar of the 1920s and
but some of the brilliant young scholars drawn to his discussions make it
apparent that Mises permitted all conflicting opinions to be freely
expressed and considered in the discussions Mises listened to all these
conflicting opinions but in his own writings he insisted on stating and
repeating the conclusions which he believed had been scientifically
established he refused to bend he insisted despite all personal costs on
what he saw to be the truth we must surely recognize the intellectual
integrity which this rib represents and understand that that intellectual
integrity were stiffened by the passion with which Mises the citizen viewed the
dangerous consequences to mankind of failing to see these truths no
assessment of the importance of Mises can ignore this aspect of his life and
career and the lesson which it holds for all of us thank you so much
you
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