Mises Memo News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
so is the broader moral point. A
Why Economic Education?
This summer, students from
all over the United States and
many countries around die world
have come to the campus of the
Mises Institute to learn about the
economics of human liberty. They
have been chosen from among
many applicants to benefit from the
unique economics education avail
able from the faculty we have gath
ered.
In the Mises campus, with its
large and specialized library, its
advanced technology and an out
standing learning environment,
these students have discovered an
idealized setting that will leave
their intellectual lives forever
affected. Most intend academic
careers of teaching and researching
Faculty andstudents attending Mises University
Summer 2004
in economics, history, philosophy,
and law. Others will be in journal
ism or perhaps the ministry. But
whatever path they choose, they
will be prepared to offer the
strongest possible defense of the
idea of freedom.
Among the great offerings this
summer are two complete sessions
of die Mises University widi its
tamed faculty, a mil week of lectures
widi Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a full
week with tax historian Charles
Adams, an ongoing student collo
quium, evening seminars and films,
and daily interaction on the Rill
range of topics within die social sci
ences.
Technical economics is an
essential part of the program but
society that respects propertv
rights and is unmanaged by die
central state is the essential condi
tion for the flourishing of human
ity and civilization. It is this lib
erty—stemming from private
property and reliant on peace—
that has brought such blessings to
the world. And vet it is endan
gered by states that interfere with
the operations of the market econ
omy. That idea is die central lesson
of history, and the main message
of economic science.
• Antigapitalism
Everyone, apart from a few
socialist fanatics, believes in free
enterprise. Right? Surely there is
no real need to give people spe
cialized training in a subject about
which there is little dispute.
That's what we are told. But if
you look more closely, you find a
very different picture. Political
campaigns have been reduced to a
competition over who can offer
the most prizes to special interests
at the expense of the taxpayer.
Alternatively, it is a tight over
which set of producers is going to
benefit at the expense of con
sumers and through what means.
Whatever happens, the result is an
attack on liberty and property.
(This is explained beautifully in
Ralph Raico's taped courscwork:
Histon: The Strugglefir Liberty.)
It sets worse. Thumbing
through any day's stories from the
business press turns up fallacies
galore. Here we find calls for
 l " t LUC.7IS VON Vl.l •„ r.oIIIUIL PfcEaLNIS
HISTORY
JT^J*
A Seminar with Ralph Raico
tHJHttTOIWi'Wli.lW'iittW
national planning, new health-care
mandates, higher taxes to fund
public schools (and private schools
through vouchers), higher mini
mum wages, environmental plan
ning, antitrust policy, intervention
by the Federal Reserve, bailouts of
industry, protectionism, zoning
controls, price controls on prod
ucts, government funding of
research, work-time regulations,
forced association at the work
place, world central planning, and
war as development policy, among
a thousand other bad ideas.
• The Root of Bad Ideas
Each of these topics is dealt
widi in the coursework, publica
tions, and books of the Mises
Institute, not just as piecemeal
topics but as part of an overall
framework of economic theory.
Even students who come to us—
already sympathetic toward capi
talism—find themselves enlight
ened and even amazed at die ideas
they discover in our programs.
It is not by accident that the
same fallacies appear in college
textbooks, not just from econom
ics and business ethics classes but
The Mises Memo is published quarterly
by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Vol
ume 10, No. 2. Copyright © 2004 by the
Ludwig von Mises Institute, 518 West
Magnolia Ave., Auburn, Alabama 36832-
4528; 334-321-2100; fax 334-321-2119;
info@mises.org; www.mises.org.
from all disciplines. It seems that
everyone has a bone to pick with
the market economy. These same
people have an unlimited faidi in
the state (despite all experience) to
perform better than the market
economy (despite all experience).
We are talking about intractable
error of the sort that requires deep
study and understanding to dis
lodge.
As much as people talk about
die triumph of capitalism, it is clear
that basic truths of economics can
no longer be taken for granted. For
example, the environmental move
ment and various religious move
ments deer)' the idea that economic
growth should be celebrated. They
say that this degrades people and
harms non-human living things.
Just as absurdly, unions around the
country are mobilizing to keep busi
nesses like Wal-Mart from locating
in poor areas, on the claim that this
would destroy "community."
Thus do wesecthe relationship
between intellectual error and
impoverishment. What is taught in
the classrooms at colleges and uni
versities eventually comes to have
an effect on the lives of real people,
for good or ill. On the bright side,
there is also a relationship between
the ideas of freedom and prosper
ity. The goal of the Mises Institute
in setting up a different sort of
learning is to have an impact on
the ideas of the future. •
Man, Economy, and State
Many people have written to
ask how sales and distribu
tion of Man, Economy, and State
with Power and Market are going.
This great treatise by Murray N.
Rothbard has been given new life
in the Mises Institute edition that
combines the two books into the
one they were meant to be, and
presents them in an edition perfect
News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
All books and tapes
featured here can be ordered
online at mises.org, or with
the enclosed order form, or
by calling 800-636-4737.
for students, complete with foot
notes at the bottom of the page
and a long introduction based on
the archives.
We have been extremely
pleased with the reaction. As sev
eral Amazon reviewers have men
tioned, this edition is worth own
ing even if you have the other two
books. The added features are
essential, and seeing them as a
whole—theory united with prac
tice—provides an entirely different
perspective on the meaning of the
project.
Those who have revisited the
book in recent days have com
mented that it should be a priority
of the Austrian movement to
encourage wide readership and
study of this book. It is as clear in
its exposition as it is rigorous in its
theory. It prepares students to deal
with the barrage of fallacies they
encounter in graduate school, and
makes it possible for professional
economists to spot errors easily.
Nothing shapes the mind like an
integrated treatise, and Rothbard's
accomplishes this task brilliantly.
Man,
Economy,
State
Power
AND
Market
SUMMl-.K 2004
 Our goal is to make the book's
contents as widely available as pos
sible. To this end, we have put the
entire text online, in several for
mats. As with Mises's books, we
have found that doing this
increases interest and encourages
sales. Most important from the
point of view of the Institute, it
accomplishes the goal of global
economic education toward free
dom and prosperity. •
Inflationist Ideology
It was no great shock that Bush
appointed Alan Greenspan to
another term. What has provided
a shock to many has been the
resurgence of die old beast of price
inflation. That's not to say it ever
went away. Even at rates of 2-4
percent, the dollar's value has
eroded by half since Reagan's first
term. The best way out is the gold
standard, which would prevent the
currencv from being inflated to
fund the government's pet proj
ects. The great irony is that Alan
Greenspan himself wrote up a very
Misesian defense of the gold stan
dard back in 1966. This is a good
reminder that more than technical
knowledge is needed to restore lib
erty; courage is also essential.
In support of the gold stan
dard, we are preparing a new edi
tion of WJjat has Government Done
to Our Money? by Murray Roth-
bard, and working constantly to
make all of his writings on this
topic available. The Mises Insti
tute has been the leading sup
porter of the gold standard since
our founding. People observe that
there seems to be little chance of
seeing gold restored anytime soon.
Perhaps so, but we would be much
worse off if no one were even talk
ing about the issue.
One great sign: the Financial
Times recently ran a hysterical
Summer 2004 • News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
attack on the idea of die gold stan
dard. If the prospect were not a
threat, why bother?
Incidentally, Murray Roth-
bard's great book America's Great
Depression has just appeared in
Chinese, from the Century Pub
lishing Group of Shanghai. It is a
very beautiful edition. Meanwhile,
Rothbard's neglected revisionist
work on Edmund Burke has been
published in Polish. •
War and
Central Planning
The scope of economics is far
vaster than what is
"economic policy." It extends to all
What Has
Government
Done to Our
Money?
Murray N. Rothbard
relations between peoples insofar
as it impacts on dieir material
well-being. This is why the Miscs
Institute has never shied away
from dealing with topics of war
and peace. Immediately after the
attacks on 9-11, we warned
against new and cosdy wars that
create new enemies and do noth
ing to bring about justice.
It was Mises who first saw the
connection between socialism and
war—they are mutually reinforc
ing in every respect. War ends up
putting the central planners in
charge, as Robert Higgs points out
in a wonderful series of lectures we
have made available in a tape set
for individual or classroom use:
Crisis and Liberty: The Expansion of
Government Power.
CRISlg^IBERTY
^Jtw (^yxvanJion cfQtVM-nmtnt
A Seminar with Robert Higgs
HM'PtiiliWJHWiti^i
called
Just as the welfare statists and
regulators live with illusions about
society and business, U.S. planners
went into Iraq with incredible illu
sions about what war and occupa
tion could accomplish for a coun
try. To put the best spin on it, the
idea was that replacing a despot
with a U.S.-led government would
jumpstart the country toward
democracy and freedom, and this
example would spread throughout
the region until all the Middle East
and Gulf region embraced the U.S.
model.
 Had they read what the Aus
trian School has written about
war, they never would have fallen
for this nonsense, the Bush admin
istration would have avoided a
quagmire, tens of thousands of
lives would have been saved, and
the world would be safer.
"War," wrote Mises in 1922,
"is harmful, not only to the con
quered but to the conqueror. Soci
ety has arisen out of the works of
peace; the essence of society is
peacemaking. Peace and not war is
the father of all things. Only eco
nomic action has created
wealth around us; labor, not the
profession of arms, brings happi
ness. Peace builds, war destroys."
The Mises Institute has been
on the forefront in the study of
government, war, and peace. In
1997, there was the pioneering
volume The Costs ofWar, edited by
John V Denson, which drew
attention to this much neglected
topic. In 1998, there was Secession,
State, and Liberty, edited by David
Gordon, which examined
alternative to the large nation-state
and the violent means of conflict
suppression. In 2001, there was
extended analysis of the domestic
consequences of war: Reassessing
the Presidency, edited by Denson.
SECOND EXPANDED EDITION
r-lTHE
osts
VrWar
AMERICA'S
PYRRHIC
VICTORIES |
\ JI John V. I
DENSON
The newest book goes even fur
ther to examine private alterna
tives: The Myth of National
Defense, edited bv Hans-Hermann
Hoppe.
If liberty is to have a future, it
will come through die fundamen
tal rethinking of die very idea of
the welfare-warfare state. In the
end, it will be ideas that will
encourage the flowering of a new
post-imperial American freedom. •
Tin-: Austrian Scholars
Conference
the
T h e Austrian Scholars Confer
ence this year was the usual
nightmare for socialist intellectu
als. The forces of history were sup
posed to have flattened the Aus
trian School and the free market
more than a century ago. Soviet
writers were calling Mises a
dinosaur in the 1940s, while
Rothbard was dismissed as a has-
been when his 1962 treatise
appeared.
the As this year showed, not only
are the Austrians alive; they are
thriving and growing and on the
cutting edge of scholarship in a
world where the government and
its minions, no matter how
numerous, are always behind the
k
Secession,
State &
Liberty;
naii
News from the Ludwig von Misks Institute
times. During the conference, our
campus was packed with smart,
productive, and confident profes
sors and students who consider
themselves students of Ludwig von
Mises and Murray N. Rothbard, all
gathered in Auburn for three days
to present and hear a host of origi
nal papers, share new and old
ideas, and plot a future of freedom
from state planning.
Most of our visitors were from
the United States, but 20 other
countries were also represented.
Though our visitors are studving
different areas of economics, his
tory, and philosophy, they are
united in a consistent intellectual
vision of free markets, peace, indi
vidual liberty, and decentralized,
smaller government. Their goal is
to teach and promote the case
against all forms of state control, to
reconstruct the teaching of history
to reflect this vision, and to work
to bring about a world without
tyranny.
Our named lecturers this year
included Sean Corrigan, Joseph
Stromberg, Thomas Woods,
Richard Ebeling, and Tobv Baxen-
dale. All their talks became avail
able for the world online and in
print. Of the 80 or so presenta
tions, many will appear in journals
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• Summer 2004

ASSC
AUSTRIAN STUDENT SCHOLARS CONFERENCE
NOVEMBER 5-6, 2004 • GROVE CITY, PENNSYLVANIA
or become books or otherwise
enter the world of ideas.
Such meetings are not
unprecedented. In the late nine
teenth century, the Marxists were a
truly international movement that
burned with a passionate desire to
remake the world. And they did,
with terrifying destruction. For
100 years, the Austrians stood
alone in always and completely
opposing their plots. The Austri
ans gathered to fight in interwar
Vienna and in New York City in
the 1970s.
Today, the center of the Aus
trian movement of free-market
thought is Auburn, Alabama, and
it thrives as never before. It's the
Austrians who have the passion,
die momentum, the international
flair and appeal, and it is the Aus
trians who are writing the papers,
publishing the books, appealing to
the young, and making the case
for a radical vision of liberty all
over the world.
We are often asked whether
these conferences pay for them
selves. The answer is, of course,
no. Our donors make it possible
for students to attend at a minimal
fee, and subsidize most everything
else as well. In financial terms, the
conference shouldn't exist.
terms of the intellectual benefits,
however, it is hugely worth it.
What it produces are many papers
Summer 2004 News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
that otherwise might not have
been written, many of which will
become books. It galvanizes an
entire movement for intellectual
battle. It gives all of us hope of
surviving and thriving in the
world of ideas. •
Students Too
Grove City College and the
Mises Institute are pleased to
announce the Austrian Student
Scholars Conference. The first
meeting is November 5-6, 2004,
at Grove City College, Grove City,
Pennsylvania. Open to current
undergraduates, the ASSC will
bring together students from col
leges and universities across the
country to present their own
research papers written in the
In
tradition of the great Austrian
School intellectuals.
Cash prizes of $500, $750,
and $1,000 will be awarded for
the top three papers, as judged by
a select panel of Grove City College
faculty. Hotel accommodations
will be provided to all students
who travel to the ASSC to present
their papers. Limited stipends are
available for travel expenses. Stu
dents should submit their propos
als to Dr. Jeffrey Herbener (jmher-
bener@gcc.edu), director of the
conference, by September 15. •
The Classroom
The Mises Institute's online
classroom gathers ever more
tools and resources. In addition to
study guides, archives, lesson
plans, online books, and a full
blown syllabus project that offers
the syllabi from many Austrian
classrooms, we have now added
dissertations to the mix. It was
once the case that dissertations
with Austrian themes would lan
guish in the libraries of the host
ing university. Now we make
them available to the world. With
so many young people now com
pleting their studies, there is a
wonderful advantage for everyone
in being able to do this. Congrat
ulations, for example, go to Paul
Cwik, whose dissertation on
interest rates and yield curves is
now available at www.mises.org/
studvguide.asp. •
Mises Fellow Paul Cwik
The Journals
The scholarly journal, properly
conceived, serves an essential
purpose in allowing new research
to be published and made known,
and in building a community of
scholars. The journals of the eigh
teenth and nineteenth centuries
seem fearless by comparison to
the current crop. Far from curry
ing favor with power, the best of
them took it on, and dealt with
fundamental questions, regardless
of official displeasure.
Where today can scholars con
sider such questions as the mean
ing of property rights, the correct
relationship between the individ
ual and the state, the violent
nature of economic planning, and
how history is scarred by wars,
taxes, and other government pro
grams? Where are the articles that
can completely overturn conven
tional wisdom, and expose
received opinion as false? Where
are the truly scientific studies
showing that conventional eco
nomic models are theoretically
unsound?
Thank goodness for the Jour
nal of Libertarian Studies and the
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Eco
nomics. These journals stimulate
research, recruit new young peo
ple, and intensify communication
and cooperation. Their ideas make
their way into libraries and class
rooms, and recruit a new genera
tion of students.
Yes, both journals take risks.
But this is necessary to break the
stranglehold that the state exer
cises over academic opinion, and
to attract the young. They provide
a rare zone of freedom where out
standing scholars can publish real
research and new ideas. No won
der their audience is so broad and
dedicated. We are dedicated
making sure there are scholarly
journals to hold high the flame of
liberty in dark times. •
The Media Server
W e were troubled for vears
about all the recordings of
great lectures we own but could
not make available to people; it
was never reallv viable for a small
institute like ours to throw our
selves into the riskv waters
News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
THE
Quarterly
Journal
ofAustrian
economics
After the Age of Inflation JBrtr»y I
Before and After the Euro
Re<evan;e as a Virtue tn Economics
Do Free*MarVet Economists Practice
What They Twch?
The 1866 False Money Debate tn trie
)owiwl dci lronom/stes
The Case Against Currency Boards Nifcol-y (
A Theory of Interest
the Rebirth of Austrian Economtcs-In
j«0 Cmmjo ^
Light of Austrian Economics ioM»h t
large-scale audio sales. The prob
lem is now solved with the Mises
Media Server. It includes hundreds
of files of audio lectures which are
now made available at no charge.
Listeners love it: "Fantastic!
to Excellent! This is extremely nifty,
and even the name is catchy
(Mises Media). It looks like HI
have to send out another dona
tion." "Bliss was it in that dawn to
be alive, to be able to click any
where on this Mises Media server
and hear a lecture on Austrian eco
nomics, anytime, anvwhere."
As an example, Walter Block
debated Richard Epstein at the
Universitv of Chicago on property
rights and eminent domain. The
of
place was packed. Thanks to the
Mises Media server, the whole-
world had the chance to hear the
debate without having been in
Chicago. People listened at no
charge from Atlanta to London to
Shanghai. •
Conservatives
Need Rockwell
A t a recent meeting of conser
vatives where the president
spoke, the attendees cheered and
stomped with joy over the biggest
spender of the last half century. It
just goes to show vou how badly
Summer 2004
these people need to read
Llewellyn Rockwell's Speaking of
Liberty, as published by the Mises
Institute. The reviews have been
fabulous so far, and the book is
achieving excellent sales. Thank
goodness too that die Conserva
tive Book Club has made SOL a
featured selection. •
Working for Liberty
The intellectual guidance of
humanity," wrote Ludwig von
Mises, "belongs to the very few
who think for themselves." This is
why he, and his student Murray
Rothbard, were hopeful about the
prospects for liberty. Socialist and
statist ideologies dominated their
age and ours, and yet statism can
not triumph in the long run so
long as independent thinkers who
believe in liberty arc willing to
throw themselves into the intellec
tual struggle.
We are not talking about a
niche idea that is important in one
area of life but no other, like a
small insight in the natural sci
ences, however important that
may be. No, Mises and Rothbard
were thinking about something far
larger: diey saw that the idea of
human liberty itself is the mother
of all progress that mankind has
ever made, in science, health, and
human well-being generally.
The Mises Institute was
founded as a research center based
on the classical liberalism that has
always been under fire: the ideas
of Mises and the tradition of
thought he represents. The goal of
the Mises Institute is to facilitate
these revolutionary ideas through
every form of education and pub
lication. In the spirit of Mises, we
strive to be the world's leading
provider of scholarly support serv
ices for the Austrian School of
economics, free-market theory,
Summer 2004 News from the Ludwig von Mises Institute
Speaking
of Liberty
and libertarian political philoso
phy. The Institute publishes jour
nals and books, holds internation
ally renowned teaching con
ferences, assists faculty and stu
dents with research services, and
administers one of the most heav
ily trafficked institutional websites
in the world (with voluminous
resources used by millions),
among a huge range of other proj
ects. •
Supporting the
Mises Institute
W e do not seek nor would we
ever accept government
support. We exist solely on the
voluntary contributions of the nat
ural elites who understand and
value the work of freedom. We
have a small and dedicated staff, a
vast network of students, faculty,
and volunteers around the world,
and depend entirely on the finan
cial support of people who share
our ideals. Working with and
through the Miscs Institute is a
wonderful way for people who
believe in liberty to make a differ
ence.
We have the testimony of
many giants in our history—EA.
Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Henry
Hazlitt, Murray N. Rothbard—
that the best means to achieve the
goal of liberty is not working
within the structure of govern
ment or even seeking to educate
existing office holders and bureau
crats, but rather public education
generally
We seek to use every medium
we can to advance our ideas, from
the smallest newsletter to the
largest website. Change never hap
pens automatically. It requires
tremendous effort and creativity to
bring about change. The effect of
ideas on a civilization is like waves
on water. By the time they reach
the shore, no one remembers or
knows for sure where they came
from. Our job is to stick to die
task. We should use every means at
our disposal to get die ideas out
there; what happens after that is as
unpredictable as the future always
is.
The key to our success is that
the Mises Institute is all about
being attached to principle and
truth before anything else. We've
never traded short-term attention
for building for the long term.
Mises did not and he paid a per
sonal price. But his ideas are
changing the world. We must all
follow his lead, never giving in,
never giving up, fighting for truth
SOCIALISM
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until our last breath. We have die
passion and energy Most impor
tantly, we have truth on our side. •
The Work of Liberty
A t the Mises Institute, we have
done the work of liberty for
22 years in hundreds of seminars
and lectures. In fact, we do it
around the clock every day for an
international audience. Hardly a
day goes by when we do not
receive an email from some stu
dent somewhere who credits our
work with changing the way he
looks at the world.
Does it matter that one stu
dent's mind is changed? Yes, it
matters. It matters for that one
person and it matters for the his
tory of liberty itself. If we work
every day to sponsor scholarship
and education that backs the idea
of freedom, and we work harder
and smarter dian the other side,
and we do not become discour
aged or allow ourselves to be
intimidated, someday we will turn
around to discover diat we have
made a revolution. We may never
get credit, but that is not what we
seek. We are in this business
because we believe. We have faith,
which is the evidence of things
unseen. What is unseen in our
country and world right now is a
free society that we know would be
productive, peaceful, and moral.
What the friends of freedom
need more than anything else
today is die personal stamina that
conies with moral conviction. The
cause needs you more now than
ever. A time for liberty will come
when we realize that history is
nothing more than the working
out of what we think and believe.
By choosing to pursue education
as the means to revolution, you
have seized on the most workable
means to save civilization itself. It
is an awesome responsibility •
Recurring Donations Massachusetts Maritime Academy-
T h e Mises Institute now makes He was a retired executive of the
it possible to give to the work U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office,
and a Charter Member of the Insti
of liberty every month, automati
cally, by setting up a recurring tute (1983). Dr. RobertM. Hansen
credit card charge. It is a great way of Palm Desert, California was a
to make sure that your support is Charter Member (1983) and a gen
ongoing without having to set up erous Patron of Institute publica
complicated financial arrange tions.
ments. As one donor told us: "this We also mourn the passing of
is estate planning for the rest of Institute benefactors: Mr. Sidney
us." We hope you take advantage D. Bell of Albany, California,
of the opportunity by authorizing Member since 1988; Mr. Myron I.
a mondily donation. You can do it Dickey, Jr., of Mount Enterprise,
online at mises.org, or call us at Texas, Member since 1985; Mr.
800-636-4737 and let us set it up Raymond V Shawstad of Mar-
for you. • shalltown, Iowa, a Member since
2002; and Mr. Richard E. Six of
Requiesgat in Page Alexandria, Virginia, a Member
since 1987.
e mourn the deaths of these
w;heroes of freedom: May these great men rest in
Mr. George Conncll of Para peace. In their spirit and in their
chute, Colorado, had been a Mem memory, we will work to protect
ber of die Institute since 1987. A
and enhance die ideals in which
Purdue University graduate who they believed, and for which they
sacrificed. •
worked as a civil engineer through
out the world, he established the
Murray N. Rothbard Medal of
Freedom to be awarded annually
for a lifetime of dedication to lib
erty, which certainly describes Mr.
Connell, who personally chose the
first two recipients, Burton S.
Blumert in 2003 and Gary North
in 2004.
Mr. Robert D. Love, a Mem
ber of the Institute since 1984,
was board chairman of the Love
George Connell
Box Company in Wichita, Kansas,
and an advocate of Christian busi
ness principles. He also founded
the Wichita Collegiate School, a
bastion of classical education,
Christianity, and libertarianism.
Dr. Eberhard F. Besemann of
Signal Mountain, Tennessee, was a
Charter Member (1983) of the
Institute, and a faithful supporter
of Mises University. Mr. Myron
W Chamberlin of Portsmouth,
Virginia, was a graduate of the Robert D. Love
News from the Ludwig vox Mises Institute Summer 2004