Ludwig von Mises
Life and Work
- 29. September 1881
in Lemberg - 10. Oktober 1973
in New York - Generation 3
The episode on Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises in audio: the life, the one idea, the most famous argument, and which work to read first. About 18 minutes.
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Stations
- 1881Birth
Born on 29 September 1881 in Lemberg (today Lviv) in Galicia. He came from a family of assimilated Jews; his great-great-grandfather had been raised to the hereditary nobility by Emperor Franz Joseph.[3]
- 1892–1900Akademisches Gymnasium
Attended the Akademisches Gymnasium.
- 1900–1906Studies in Law
Studied law (at the University of Vienna).
- 1902–1903One-year voluntary military service— approximate
Military service as a one-year volunteer (Einjährig-Freiwilliger) in 1902/1903.[18]
- 1906Trainee lawyer (Konzipient)— inferred
Worked for a short time as a trainee lawyer (Konzipient) before beginning his professional career at the Chamber of Commerce.
- 1906Doctorate in Law (Dr. iuris)
Doctorate (Dr. iuris) at the University of Vienna in February 1906.[2]
- 1909–1934Vienna Chamber of Commerce
In 1909 he began his professional career at the Vienna Chamber of Commerce as an official of the chamber secretariat, where he effectively became one of the country's leading economists. This position ended in 1934, when he took up the chair at the IHEI in Geneva.
- 1912“The Theory of Money and Credit”
Publication of the habilitation thesis “The Theory of Money and Credit”.[3]
- 1913Habilitation at the University of Vienna
He completed his Habilitation in 1913 at the University of Vienna with "The Theory of Money and Credit", published in 1912. Under the influence of Carl Menger and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, he had turned to the thought of the Austrian School already in his youth.
- 1918Associate Professor, University of Vienna
From 1918 as associate professor at the University of Vienna (an unsalaried lectureship, not a full professorship).[18]
- 1920–1934Mises Private Seminar
In the 1920s he founded his renowned private seminar in his office at the Chamber of Commerce; a meeting place for Hayek, Machlup, Haberler, Morgenstern, Felix Kaufmann, Karl Menger and many others. It continued until his emigration in 1934.[3]
- 1922“Die Gemeinwirtschaft” (Socialism)
Publication of “Die Gemeinwirtschaft. Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus” (Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis; 1922) – Mises's systematic critique of socialism, with the argument of the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism.[3]
- 1927Co-founding of the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research
In 1927, together with Friedrich August von Hayek, he founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research (today WIFO).[20]
- 1929Prediction of the Great Depression— inferred
Mises foresaw some developments far in advance as logically foreseeable consequences, such as the Great Depression at the end of the 1920s.
- 1934–1940Chair at the IHEI, Geneva
He left Vienna in 1934 and took up a chair at the Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (IHEI) in Geneva, where he taught until 1940.[21]
- 1938Marriage to Margit Sereny-Herzfeld
In Geneva in 1938, he married the widow Margit Sereny-Herzfeld, a former actress. Margit von Mises would later publish her memoirs, "My Years with Ludwig von Mises" (1976).[21]
- 1940"Nationalökonomie"
Publication of his major German-language work, “Nationalökonomie. Theorie des Handelns und Wirtschaftens” (roughly “Economics: A Theory of Action and Economic Activity”), in Geneva in 1940 (published by Editions Union) – the precursor to “Human Action” (1949).
- 1940Emigration to the United States
Emigrated to the United States in 1940 with his wife Margit, by way of France, Spain and Portugal, and settled in New York.[3]
- 1945–1969Visiting Professor at New York University
From 1945 until his retirement in 1969, visiting professor at New York University (Graduate School of Business) – the position was financed not by the university but by private patrons (the William Volker Fund).[3]
- 1947Co-founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society
One of the founding members of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947, at the invitation of Friedrich August von Hayek.[15]
- 1949“Human Action”
With “Human Action” (1949), the English reworking of his principal work “Nationalökonomie” (1940; literally ‘Economics’), he gradually achieved the success he had long sought.[3]
- 1962Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
In 1962 Mises received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.[22]
- 1973Death
Died in New York on 10 October 1973.
Influences
- 1900–1906
Studied under Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and took part in his seminar at the University of Vienna; together with Menger one of the formative teachers for Mises' turn to the Austrian School.[3]
- 1903–1906
Wieser wird in der Wikipedia-EN-Influences-Box von Mises gelistet; Mises hatte zu Wieser ein distanzierteres Verhältnis als zu Böhm-Bawerk.
- 1913
Philippovich war 1913 als Lehrstuhlinhaber für Politische Ökonomie der formelle Habilitationsbetreuer Mises' an der Universität Wien (Aufgabenhinweis aus Pipeline-Briefing).
- 1918–1925
Studied at the University of Vienna under Ludwig von Mises, among others; later a regular participant in the Mises-Privatseminar.[3]
- 1920–1920
Participant in the private seminar and member of the inner Mises circle in Vienna.[23]
- 1921–1921
Received her doctorate in 1921 as one of the first women in the political sciences at the University of Vienna; the dissertation "Die Anweisungstheorie des Geldes" (The Assignment Theory of Money) was supervised by Ludwig von Mises.[25]
- 1922–1931
Reading Ludwig von Mises' Socialism (Die Gemeinwirtschaft, 1922), which contained the proof of the impossibility of economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, turned him away from his socialist sympathies. Quite soon Mises recognised Hayek's talent and invited him to his private seminar.[5]
- 1923–1934
Machlup was a regular participant in Mises' private seminar and an intellectual student from the Viennese circle.[3]
- 1949–1955
Translated numerous writings of Mises from German into English and thereby contributed substantially to the spread of Austrian monetary and business cycle theory in the English-speaking world.[6]
- 1949–1959
Regarded as perhaps the most important Mises student in the New World; Rothbard deepened his teacher's approaches especially in the theory of money, monopoly, capital and interest.[7]
- 1957–1957
Took his doctorate under Mises at NYU and became his successor there as the foremost representative of the Austrian tradition in the USA.[8]
- —Henry Hazlitt(1894–1993) · US-Libertarismus
Hazlitt was a journalistic follower of Mises in the USA, arranged the NYU position through the William Volker Fund and acted as a mediator between Mises and the wider American public.[3]
- —Gustav von Schmoller(1838–1917) · Jüngere Historische Schule
Methodological antipode from the Methodenstreit; with The Theory of Money and Credit (Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel, 1912) Mises indirectly continued the dispute of the Austrian School against the Younger Historical School.
- —John Maynard Keynes(1883–1946) · Cambridge School
Throughout his life Keynes was Mises' most important intellectual antipode in monetary and business cycle theory; Mises radically rejected state-interventionist approaches.[3]
- 1920–1934
Schwiedland was a participant in the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna.
- 1920–1934
Kaufmann was a participant in the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna.[3]
- 1920–1938
Participant in the private seminar of Ludwig von Mises in Vienna; a permanent member of the Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft until her expulsion in 1938.[24]
- 1920–1934
Schlesinger war Teilnehmer am Mises-Privatseminar (Wikipedia EN).
- 1920–1934
Illy war ständiger Teilnehmer am Mises-Privatseminar (bio_de bestätigt).
- 1920–1934Lionel Robbins(1898–1984) · LSE
Robbins was for a time a participant in the Privatseminar; later an important bridge of the Viennese circle to the LSE.[3]
- 1920–1934alfred-schutz
Alfred Schütz (phenomenologist, a link to the Husserl school) was a regular participant in the Mises-Privatseminar.[3]
- 1920–1934erich-voegelin
Eric Voegelin (political scientist and philosopher) was a participant in the Privatseminar.[3]
- 1920–1934Karl Menger jr.(1902–1985) · Wiener Kreis (Mathematik)
Karl Menger Jr. (mathematician, son of Carl Menger) was a participant in the Mises-Privatseminar.[3]
- 1920–1930
Mises' Privatseminar-Liste (mises.org Hayek Centenary) führt Rosenstein-Rodan unter den regelmäßigen Teilnehmern; aktiv bis zur Übersiedlung nach Großbritannien 1930.[11]
- 1920–1934
Participant in Ludwig von Mises' Privatseminar at the Vienna Handelskammer, together with Hayek, Haberler, Morgenstern and others.[27]
- 1922–1934
Long-standing participant in the Mises Privatseminar in Vienna; one of the few habilitated members of the Austrian School in the circle.[1]
- 1922–1923
Fellow campaigner of Ludwig von Mises in the stabilization of the Austrian currency; together the two exerted influence on Federal Chancellor Ignaz Seipel, so that the policy of inflation and deficits came to an end.[16]
- 1927
Together with Mises he founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, where from 1927 Hayek did “hard pioneering work on the economic base”.
- 1928–1938
After his appointment at the Institute for Business Cycle Research, Schiff worked as a newspaper editor and regularly attended the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna.[13]
- 1928–1936
Haberler regularly took part in the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna.[3]
- 1929–1938
Participant in the Mises-Privatseminar in Vienna as a member of the inner circle of the Austrian School.[3]
- 1930–1933
Lachmann nahm laut Pipeline-Briefing als jüngeres Mitglied am Mises-Privatseminar teil; vor seiner Emigration nach London 1933.
- 1947Frank Knight(1885–1972) · Chicago School
Both founding members of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947.
- 1947–1931
In 1947 at Vevey on Lake Geneva he gathered 39 non-collectivist thinkers from around the world, among them Ludwig von Mises, to found the Mont Pèlerin Society.[5]
- 1947–1934
He regularly took part in the Mises-Privatseminar, alongside his business activity in his parents' cardboard factory.[3]
- 1947George Stigler(1911–1991) · Chicago School
Both founding members of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947; Stigler later MPS president.
- 1947Milton Friedman(1912–2006) · Chicago School
Both founding members of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947.
- 1947Wilhelm Röpke(1899–1966) · Ordoliberalismus
Both founding members of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947.
- 1949–1959
Teilnehmer am Mises-Privatseminar in New York 1949–1959 (NYU-Phase) – direkter Anschluss an die Wiener Privatseminar-Tradition über Mises.[17]
- 1949–1959
Participant in the Mises-Privatseminar at NYU from 1949 to the end of the 1950s, with activity into the 1970s.[7]
- —
In 1957 Kauder described Mises as Menger's “most faithful student”; he was on friendly terms with him and commented on his ontological approach as the benchmark of Austrian theory.[14]
Ludwig von Mises in the context of the School as a whole: five generations, their teacher-student lineages, circles and collegial ties.
Show in the family tree →SOURCES ON STATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS55 citations · 6 sources
- [15]Mirowski/Plehwe: Road From Mont Pèlerin (2009), S. 13
- [16]Rothbard: „Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero"
- [17]Vaughn: Austrian Economics in America (1998), S. 66–67
- [18]Mises-Lebenslauf (Oktober 1918), Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Universitätsarchiv Präs. 1918/303. · 2×
- [19]Mises' eigener Lebenslauf (Universitaetsarchiv WU Wien) - Promotionsabschluss Februar 1906
- [20]WIFO: Mission and Strategy (Gründungsgeschichte 1927).
- [21]Finanz und Wirtschaft: Unnachgiebig gegen den Strom (Mises-Biographie). · 2×
- [22]Kurien Wissenschaft und Kunst: Archiv-Mitglieder (Mises Ehrenzeichen 1962).
- [23]Reinhard Müller (Uni Graz): Helene Lieser · 2×
- [24]Wien Geschichte Wiki: Helene Lieser · 2×
- [25]Universität Wien, 650 plus: Martha Stephanie Browne
- [26]Wikiberal: Ewald Schams
- [27]ECAEF: Frauen im Mises-Privatseminar
Places of Activity
The Books
- Nation, State, and EconomyOriginalEnglish
- Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel (1. Auflage)1912OriginalGerman
- The Theory of Money and Credit1953OriginalEnglish
- Liberalism: In the Classical TraditionOriginalEnglish
- A Critique of InterventionismOriginalEnglish
Essays, Reviews, Lectures
- APA
- Ludwig von Mises. (n.d.). Edited by mises.at and scholarium. Accessed October 8, 2026, from https://mises.co/ludwig-von-mises
- Chicago
- “Ludwig von Mises.” n.d. Edited by mises.at and scholarium. Accessed October 8, 2026. https://mises.co/ludwig-von-mises.
- German historical style
- Ludwig von Mises, edited by mises.at and scholarium, https://mises.co/ludwig-von-mises (accessed October 8, 2026).