Best of Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (1881-1973) was an economist, historian, and philosopher who wrote and lectured extensively on behalf of the market order. He is best known for his 1949 book Human Action. Mises worked and taught in Vienna until he was driven out by the Nazi movement in 1934, after which he took sanctuary in Geneva until 1940 and then immigrated to the United States, eventually teaching at New York University. His colleague Friedrich Hayek viewed Mises as one of the major figures in the revival of liberalism in the post-war era, and Mises's Private Seminar in Vienna was a formative event for many social scientists of the period, with many of its alumni, including Hayek and Oskar Morgenstern, emigrating from Austria to the United States and Great Britain.

It is a seemingly impossible task to select the best of Ludwig von Mises's work, as his teaching and writing career spanned six decades and his literary output includes several mighty and timeless treatises on political economy. These works were not written in isolation from the real and often horrifying events of the 20th century; they were heavily informed by the brilliance and tragedy of Mises's life experiences, including his time as a refugee forced to flee his home in Vienna, and his lifelong battle against every form of totalitarianism.

The author of this piece, Jeffrey Tucker, has been reading Mises's work since the dawn of his intellectual consciousness, yet he has yet to discover the end of Mises's capacity to illuminate the world around us. He never fails to profit from re-reading even the books he thinks he understands best, as learning from Mises is a lifelong project. Even so, the five essays presented in this piece carry an amazing power, as the reader will soon discover.

In his work, Mises championed the market order and the principles of classical liberalism, which he saw as the foundation for a free and prosperous society. His insights into the nature of human action, the role of the entrepreneur, and the dangers of central planning and interventionism continue to be highly relevant in the modern world. Mises's unwavering commitment to individual liberty and his ability to articulate the moral and practical case for a free market economy have made him a towering figure in the history of economic thought.

Despite the breadth and depth of Mises's intellectual legacy, the task of selecting the best of his work remains a daunting one. His writings cover a vast range of topics, from the theory of money and credit to the philosophy of history and the foundations of social science. Each of his major works, such as Socialism, Bureaucracy, and The Theory of Money and Credit, is a masterpiece in its own right, offering profound insights and challenging the prevailing orthodoxies of his time.

In the end, the power and enduring relevance of Mises's ideas can be seen in the continued influence they have had on the development of economic thought and the ongoing struggle for individual liberty. His work has inspired generations of scholars, policymakers, and thinkers, and his legacy continues to shape the discourse on the role of government, the nature of the free market, and the foundations of a free society.

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