Who is Ludwig von Mises?
Ludwig von Mises is credited with expanding the concept of Austrian economics and developing the Misesian Doctrine. Born in 1881, he lived to be 92 years of age. In his long life, he held great influence as a famed economist and teacher of economics, although not everyone agreed with his theories. At times, he was ostracized, to the point of being “blackballed” from holding paid teaching positions. At a young age, Ludwig von Mises studied at the illustrious University of Vienna and there he learned the Austrian theory, which emphasizes the importance of the individual rather than artificial controls on the economy. In his early twenties, von Mises wrote the “Theory of Money and Credit.” In doing so, he accomplished a feat thought to be all but impossible, blending the two theories that in today’s language are known as macroeconomics and microeconomics. In simple terms, he believed that no civilization could prosper with the addition of ever-increasing unsecured currency. Ludwig von Mis
Ludwig von Mises was born in 1881 in the city of Lemberg, Austria-Hungary. He went to the University of Vienna at 19, and obtained his doctorate at 27. While at the university, he studied the economics of the Austrian school. The works of Carl Menger combined with seminars given by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk provided the background for Mises’ work. He realised that money is not some strange concept that has to be treated separately from commodities; it is a commodity (in fact, in a free-market, money is simply that commodity which is considered most exchangeable). This idea ran counter to the thinking of the classical school (and earlier Austrians), and Mises laid out his analysis in The Theory of Money and Credit, which he published in 1912. He showed that while the old quantity theory of money (briefly, that the price level will rise in accordance with the abundance of money) provided some insight, it was more important to consider that it all depends on who gets the new money first. The
