Mises Institute

Mises Institute
Motto Austrian Economics, freedom and peace
Founder(s) Lew Rockwell, Murray Rothbard, Burton Blumert
Established 1982 (1982)
Mission To advance the Misesian tradition of thought through the defense of the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive.[1]
Focus Education, Austrian economics, libertarianism
Faculty 16[2]
Staff 21
Key people Lew Rockwell (Chairman)
Jeff Deist (President)
Joseph Salerno (Editor
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics)
Budget Revenue: $3,859,946
Expenses: $3,530,757
(FYE December 2014)[3]
Location Auburn, Alabama, United States
Website mises.org

The Mises Institute,[4] short name for Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, is a tax-exempt educative organization located in Auburn, Alabama, United States.[5] It is named after Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). Its website states that it exists to promote "teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics, and individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard."[6]

The Mises Institute was founded in 1982 by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Burton Blumert and Murray Rothbard, following a split between the Cato Institute and Rothbard, who had been one of the founders of the Cato Institute.[7] Additional backing for the founding of the Institute came from Mises's wife, Margit von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, Lawrence Fertig, and Nobel Economics Laureate Friedrich Hayek.[8][9] Through its publications, the Institute promotes libertarian and anarcho-capitalist political theories and a form of heterodox economics known as praxeology ("the logic of action").[10][11]

Background and location

Burton Blumert, Llewellyn Rockwell, David Gordon, and Murray Rothbard
Further information: Split among the contemporary Austrian School

The Ludwig von Mises Institute was established in 1982 in the wake of a dispute which occurred in the early 1980s between Murray Rothbard and the Cato Institute, another libertarian organization co-founded by Rothbard.[12][13] Llewellyn Rockwell has stated that the Mises Institute met strong opposition from parties affiliated with the Koch family, Rothbard's former backers at Cato.[14][15] Rothbard was the Mises Institute's vice president and head of academic programs until his death in 1995.[16]

The Institute states that its founding ambition is to be "the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics".[17] It has reprinted works by Mises, Rothbard, Hayek, and others. It presents the annual "Austrian Economics Research Conference" (AERC) and "Mises University", at which Austrian School thinkers meet, and Institute personnel teach and advise students, respectively. The Institute reports that its library holds nearly 35,000 volumes, including Rothbard's personal library.[18]

The Institute building, the Mises Campus

Early after its founding, the Mises Institute was located at the business department offices of Auburn University, and relocated nearby to its current site in 1998.[19] According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the Institute chose its Auburn location for low cost of living and "good ol' Southern hospitality". The article goes on "to make an additional point", that "Southerners have always been distrustful of government," making the South a natural home for the organization's libertarian outlook.[20] The institute has a staff of 16 Senior Fellows and about 70 adjunct scholars from the United States and other countries.[21]

Views espoused by founders and organization scholars

In a 2006 article published on the Wall Street Journal's website, Kyle Wingfield credited the Institute for helping make the "Heart of Dixie a wellspring of sensible economic thinking."[22] Wingfield pointed to the Institute's publication and promotion of the work of Mises and other Austrian economists, who he characterizes as advocating "limited government, lower taxes, stronger private property rights and less business regulation."

Forms of government

The Institute has published works by authors critical of various forms of government, including democracy, which was called coercive,[23] incompatible with wealth creation,[24] replete with inner contradictions,[25] and a system of legalized graft.[26] To many of these authors, the distinction lies not in the form of government, but in the degree of liberty individuals in a society actually enjoy.[23] Lew Rockman notably said "the best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating thirty percent of their ice cream." [27]

American Civil War and the Confederacy

A 2000 Southern Poverty Law Center "Intelligence Report" categorized the Institute as Neo-Confederate, "devoted to a radical libertarian view of government and economics."[28] In 2003, Lew Rockwell responded to this criticism by saying: "The Mises Institute recently came under fire from one of these watchdog groups that claims to oppose intolerance and hate. What was our offense? We have published revisionist accounts of the origins of the Civil War that demonstrate that the tariff bred more conflict between the South and the feds than slavery. For that, we were decried as a dangerous institutional proponent of 'neoconfederate' ideology. Why not just plain old Confederate ideology."[29]

Intellectual property

Mises Institute has published the writing of Mises Academy instructor Stephan Kinsella in opposition to intellectual property. Kinsella believes that intellectual property law not only violates property rights, but undermines social well-being from a utilitarian perspective.[30]

Criticisms

The Mises Institute has been criticized by some libertarians for its incorporation of paleolibertarian and far-right cultural views, including the positions taken by some of its leading figures on topics such as race, immigration, and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Often these criticisms have noted aspects of the paleolibertarian ideology that are at odds with the views of the historical Ludwig von Mises.[31][32][33][34][35][36]

In 2003, Chip Berlet of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described the Mises Institute as "a major center promoting libertarian political theory and the Austrian School of free market economics", also noting Rothbard's opposition to child labor laws and the anti-immigrant views of other Institute scholars.[37] Heidi Beirich, also with the SPLC, describes the Institute as "a hard-right libertarian foundation".[38]

Publications, conferences, activities and awards

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics

The Mises Institute makes available a large number of books, journal articles, and other writings online,[39] and archives various writings on its website. Its Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics discusses Austrian economics.[40] It published the Journal of Libertarian Studies from 1977 to 2008.[41] The Mises Review has been published since 1995, the quarterly review of literature in the social sciences being currently edited by David Gordon.

The Institute presents the annual Schlarbaum Prize for "lifetime defense of liberty", a $10,000 prize given to a public intellectual or scholar. Laureates have included U.S. Congressman Ron Paul and economists Walter Block and Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Other honors include the Murray Rothbard Medal (also won by Block, Hoppe and Paul, as well as by economic historian Gary North), the Ludwig von Mises Entrepreneurship Award, the O.P. Alford III Prize, the Douglas E. French Prize, the Elgin Groseclose Award for money writing, and the Fertig Prize.[42]

Notable scholars

Noted scholars include:[43]

See also

References

  1. ↑ About The Mises Institute. Accessed November 23, 2012
  2. ↑ "Mises Academy: Faculty". Ludwig von Mises Institute.
  3. ↑ "Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics Inc" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  4. ↑ The Mises Institute's New Look
  5. ↑ Sam Tanenhaus and Jim Rutenberg (25 January 2014). "Rand Paul's Mixed Inheritance". New York Times. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "What is the Mises Institute?". Mises Institute. Mises Institute. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Utley, Jon Basil (May 4, 2009). "Freedom fighter". The American Conservative. ISSN 1540-966X. Retrieved September 16, 2013. In memoriam. (subscription required)
  8. ↑ Peterson, William H. (2009). Mises in America. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-1933550428.
  9. ↑ According to the Mises.org website, Nobel Prize winner Friedrich Hayek served on their founding board. See: Ludwig von Mises Institute: Literature Library
  10. ↑ Lee, Frederic S., and Cronin, Bruce C. (2010). "Research Quality Rankings of Heterodox Economic Journals in a Contested Discipline." American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 69(5): 1428 (subscription required)
  11. ↑ "What is Austrian Economics"? Mises.org
  12. ↑ Rockwell, Lew. "Libertarianism and the Old Right." Mises.org. August 5, 2006.
  13. ↑ Stromberg, Joseph (August 2, 2000). "Raimondo on Rothbard and Rothbard on Everything". Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  14. ↑ Gordon, David (April 22, 2008). "The Kochtopus vs. Murray N. Rothbard". LewRockwell.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  15. ↑ In the 1980s, Lew Rockwell and Murray Rothbard developed a paleolibertarian strategy, a culturally conservative conception of libertarianism to counter left- or liberal-libertarianism. In an article about the Ron Paul Newsletter controversy, Austrian economist Steven Horwitz discussed the strategy and said the Institute at the time had "numerous connections with all kinds of unsavory folks: racists, anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers". See: Dalmia, Shikha (December 25, 2011). "The Right Way for Ron Paul to Respond to Newsletter Controversy." Reason, citing Horowitz, Steve (December 23, 2011). "How Did We Get Here? Or, Why Do 20 Year Old Newsletters Matter So Damn Much?". Bleeding Heart Libertarians.
  16. ↑ "About the Mises Institute." Mises.org
  17. ↑ "About the Mises Institute." Mises.org
  18. ↑ "Ward & Massey Libraries". Mises.org. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  19. ↑ "The Mises Campus". Mises.org. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  20. ↑ Wingfield, Kyle. "Auburnomics: Von Mises finds a sweet home in Alabama." Wall Street Journal. August 11, 2006.
  21. ↑ "Faculty Members". Mises.org. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  22. ↑ Wingfield, Kyle (August 4, 2006). "Sweet Home Alabama." The Wall Street Journal Online
  23. 1 2 Christopher Mayer. "Democracy is Coercive".
  24. ↑ "Does Democracy Threaten the Free Market? – N. Joseph Potts – Mises Institute".
  25. ↑ "Chapter 5 – Binary Intervention: Government Expenditures (continued)".
  26. ↑ "Does Democracy Promote Peace? - James Ostrowski - Mises Daily". Archived from the original on August 21, 2009.
  27. ↑ Peterson, William H. (2009). Mises in America. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-1933550428.
  28. ↑ "The Neo-Confederates". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Summer 2000.
  29. ↑ Rockwell, Lew (2003). Speaking of Liberty (PDF). Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 362. ISBN 9780945466383. OCLC 54794604.
  30. ↑ Kinsella, Stephan (September 4, 2009). "The Case Against IP: A Concise Guide." Mises.org
  31. ↑ http://reason.com/archives/2008/03/31/from-the-top-ron-pauls-mistake
  32. ↑ http://reason.com/archives/1998/11/01/invitation-to-a-stoning
  33. ↑ http://thejacknews.com/featured/libertarians-alt-right-ludwig-von-mises-would-not-like-institute/
  34. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all&mtrref=undefined&gwh=EF5FBE35EDF2119A8EA3835D9C1A53A0&gwt=pay
  35. ↑ https://twitter.com/nsarwark/status/897197530504507392
  36. ↑ http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2017/08/rhetoric-libertarians-unfortunate-appeal-alt-right/
  37. ↑ Berlet, Chip (Summer 2003). "Into the Mainstream". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved September 24, 2013. It also promotes a type of Darwinian view of society in which elites are seen as natural and any intervention by the government on behalf of social justice is destructive. The institute seems nostalgic for the days when, 'because of selective mating, marriage, and the laws of civil and genetic inheritance, positions of natural authority [were] likely to be passed on within a few noble families.'
  38. ↑ Beirich, Heidi (February 9, 2011). "Ron Paul Invites Neo-Confederate Witness to Testify in Congress". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  39. ↑ "Mises Institute Literature web page".
  40. ↑ "The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics".
  41. ↑ "Journal of Libertarian Studies".
  42. ↑ "Mises Institute Awards." Mises.org
  43. ↑ "Faculty Members" Ludwig von Mises Institute
  44. ↑ Rockwell, Llewellyn H. (ed.). Murray Rothbard, In Memoriam (PDF). Auburn, AL: von Mises Institute. pp. 64, 127.
  45. ↑ Burghart, Devan (October 9, 2013).
  46. ↑ "The Last Paleolibertarian", John Derbyshire, Vdare.com, September 24, 2011
  47. ↑ Peter Klein, Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. Retrieved 22 December 2017
  48. ↑ See, e.g., May 1990 issue of The Free Market and Mises.org blog comment
  49. ↑ "Senior Fellows, Faculty Members, and Staff." Ludwig von Mises Institute
  50. ↑ Ludwig von Mises Institute

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