The Mises Academy in Context

Over a century ago, a young statist read a book. His life was never the same again. In fact, his reading of that book changed the world. A few days ago, an online school opened its doors. In what follows I will explain how these two events are connected.

The book the young man read was Principles of Economics by Carl Menger, and the young statist himself was Ludwig von Mises. Mises would later write that reading Principles, "made an economist out of me." On that day, an intellectual odyssey began; a single, coherent project of intellectual advancement that continues to this day. This Misesian project has been both scientific and pedagogical; for science and pedagogy are two sides of the same precious coin of intellectual progress. Through science, man discovers truth; and through pedagogy, successive generations discover it anew.

The crystalline mind of Mises--clear, ordered, and intricate--refracted the discoveries of Menger and Bohm-Bawerk (Menger's student and Mises' teacher) into a complete picture of the sciences of man, how they interrelate, and how they are distinct from other sciences.

But, again, science was only one side of the coin. Then came the teaching. For Mises, teaching what he had discovered was particularly urgent, because the ideology of his age disastrously attempted to contravene every law of human action. As he saw it, the western world, in chasing the chimera of socialism, was flinging itself headlong into a "crisis of interventionism" in which civilization itself would be in mortal danger. Picture a conscientious epidemiologist transported to plague-ridden, 14th-century Europe. Imagine the sense of urgency such a fellow would have. Then you can have an inkling of what it must have been like for Mises to hold in his hands economic truth in a time of politico-economic madness.

Unfortunately for the world, Mises found himself at a severe disadvantage in his efforts to teach. As Jeffrey Tucker says in his splendid speech Dissident Publishing: Then and Now, it often surprises people to learn that Mises was never a full professor at the University of Vienna. As Mr. Tucker explains, Mises had three strikes against him in the eyes of the German-speaking academic establishment: he was Jewish, not a socialist, and principled. But, Mr. Tucker goes on, Mises did not despair or give up; he simply found a work-around. He got a job at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, and taught a private seminar out of his own office. This private seminar, the original Mises Circle, as Lew Rockwell writes in his moving essay Economics and Moral Courage, "grew into a full-blown economic society" before Mises was pressured out of Austria by the rise of Nazism, and the Circle was scattered to the four winds.

Years later, the Nazis forced Mises out of Europe altogether, and he took refuge in the United States. Yet, even in the "land of the free", there was no academic chair to be found for a principled economic liberal, no matter how brilliant and accomplished. But Mises once again found a work-around. As Mr. Rockwell tells us, some of Mises' American admirers, "put together a fund that would provide Mises a position at New York University, where he could teach and write. He was not paid by the university, where he was always a visiting professor, but through a private endowment."

While countless others in his time abjured principle in order to "get along" with their careers (Mises' colleague in Austria Hans Meyer being the paradigm of this type), Mises always preferred the challenging, creative work-around over the easy, dishonest compromise.

That was also the principled approach Lew Rockwell took when, inspired by the examples of Mises and Murray Rothbard, he founded the Mises Institute. As Jeffrey Tucker explained in the speech mentioned above:

That's what the Mises Institute is about. We go outside official channels, and we try to make a difference. We've inherited this tradition.

The Mises Institute honors this inheritance in promoting unfiltered, unflinching Misesian science and all its pro-liberty implications by going outside official lecture channels with its Mises Universities and Mises Circles, by going outside official publishing channels with its web sites, books, and journals, and now by going outside official classroom channels with the Mises Academy. As of now, the Mises Academy does not offer credits that can be applied to a state-accredited school; what it does offer is real knowledge that can be applied to a state-afflicted world.

You see, we all share one unfortunate thing in common with Mises. We too live in a time of politico-economic madness. But we, like Mises, must never give in to disaster, but strive ever more boldly against it. For, as Mises wrote in the Conclusion of Socialism:

Society lives and acts only in individuals; it is nothing more than a certain attitude on their part. Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.

But, you might ask, how can "every man" take part in a "great historical struggle" that is fought with intellectual armament? Isn't such combat a matter solely for the experts? Solely for those with PhDs or working toward their PhDs? Although he was fully aware that creative geniuses like himself were few and far between, Mises would have none of that. As he wrote in Human Action:

Economics must not be... left to esoteric circles. It is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and everything. It is the pith of civilization and of man's human existence. (...)

There is no means by which anyone can evade his personal responsibility. Whoever neglects to examine to the best of his abilities all the problems involved voluntarily surrenders his birthright to a self-appointed elite of supermen. In such vital matters blind reliance upon "experts" and uncritical acceptance of popular catchwords and prejudices is tantamount to the abandonment of self-determination and to yielding to other people's domination. As conditions are today, nothing can be more important to every intelligent man than economics. His own fate and that of his progeny is at stake.

Very few are capable of contributing any consequential idea to the body of economic thought. But all reasonable men are called upon to familiarize themselves with the teachings of economics. This is, in our age, the primary civic duty.

Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that economics cannot remain an esoteric branch of knowledge accessible only to small groups of scholars and specialists. Economics deals with society's fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen.

In the two passages I quote above, I believe Mises packed an entire manifesto into nineteen sentences: a general call to intellectual arms one might call the "Misesian Injunction".

The Mises Institute, more than any other organization, has heeded the Misesian Injunction by taking what has sneeringly been called a "populist" approach, but which would be more accurately characterized as public education in the best sense of that term.

The Mises Academy is the natural next stage in the Mises Institute's pedagogical mission. We have the openly available literature (and other media) to fill out a world-class syllabus, thanks to the tireless efforts of Mr. Tucker and his team. We have the expert teachers thanks to the educational groundwork provided years ago by Murray Rothbard and his students. We have the growing throng of brilliant students, largely thanks to Ron Paul's presidential campaign and Peter Schiff's efforts to bring sound economics to financial news audiences. And we have the communicative catalyst of the internet at hand, finally powered with the technology to make an all-online course effective. Now, we just need to bring these four reactants together to produce what I think can be explosive growth in the ranks of Misesian citizen economists.

And it's all coming together in a matter of days, with the inaugural class of the Mises Academy: Understanding the Business Cycle with Dr. Robert P. Murphy. Given the times we are living in, this is obviously the time to learn about the business cycle. I'd like to share with you why Dr. Murphy is the man to learn it from.

The course explains one of the highest accomplishments of the Austrian tradition, but in the course of doing so, it also teaches the fundamentals of Austrian Economics which undergird the Business Cycle Theory. And Dr. Murphy is just the person to learn fundamentals from. He has such a clear way of explaining the basics, that he was the Mises Institute's go-to guy for writing the study guides to both of the core texts of Austrian Economics: Mises' Human Action and Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State.

However, what is perhaps the most important theoretical underpinning of Austrian Business Cycle Theory is capital theory. Business Cycle Theory is the apogee of Austrian macroeconomics, and as economist Roger Garrison has said, Austrian macroeconomics is synonymous with "capital-based macroeconomics". And it just so happens that Dr. Murphy is also the Mises Institute's go-to guy for the annual capital theory lectures at Mises U!

Okay, you might say, I'm sure his capital lectures will be clear, but that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy them. And you would be quite incorrect in that, because, honestly, I think Dr. Murphy is one of the most entertaining lecturers I've ever seen. He has a sharp wit, and a marvelously self-deprecating sense of humor.

And finally, Dr. Murphy has heeded the Misesian Injunction more than just about any other economist. He is an extremely dedicated "economist-at-large". Readers of his blog marvel at his productivity. If he's not refuting Paul Krugman for the public good, he's speaking at a Mises Circle, or debating a Fed economist, or penning a "Politically Incorrect Guide", or developing an economics curriculum for high school students. Just take a look at his Mises Daily archive to get a sample of how devoted he is to explaining economics to the interested layman.

This is the time, this is the topic, this is the teacher, and this is the tradition. Please be part of it and help us shape our future courses by signing up for the inaugural Mises Academy course: Understanding the Business Cycle with Dr. Robert P. Murphy. Perhaps some day people will look back to this first Mises Academy course the way we look back at the first Mises Circle: with respect and gratitude.