The Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
headquartered in
Auburn, Alabama, that is a center for
Austrian economics,
right-wing libertarian thought and the
paleolibertarian and
anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...
movements in the United States.
It is named after the economist
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) and promotes the
Misesian version of
heterodox Austrian economics.
The Mises Institute was founded in 1982 by
Lew Rockwell, chief of staff to Texas Republican Congressman
Ron Paul. Early supporters of the institute included economist
F. A. Hayek, writer
Henry Hazlitt, economist
Murray Rothbard,
Ron Paul,
and libertarian coin dealer
Burt Blumert.
History

The Mises Institute was founded in 1982 by
Lew Rockwell, who was chief of staff to Texas Republican Congressman
Ron Paul; previously Rockwell had been editor for the conservative
Arlington House Publishers and had worked for the far-right
John Birch Society and the traditionalist
Hillsdale College.
Rockwell received the blessing of Margit von Mises during a meeting at the
Russian Tea Room in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and she was named the first chairman of the board.
According to Rockwell, the institute was meant to promote the contributions of Ludwig von Mises, who he feared was being ignored by libertarian institutions financed by
Charles Koch and
David Koch. As recounted by
Justin Raimondo, Rockwell said he received a phone call from George Pearson, of the Koch Foundation, who had said that Mises was too radical to name an organization after or promote.
The original academic vice president of the Mises Institute was
Murray Rothbard, an influential
right-wing libertarian activist and writer who had studied under Ludwig von Mises; Rothbard was a leading figure in the development of
anarcho-capitalism and had also been a
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...
co-founder. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican congressman who would later run for president of the United States, was named a distinguished counselor
and assisted with early fundraising.
A timber company owner also contributed funds.
Judge John V. Denson assisted in the Mises Institute becoming established at the campus of
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
. Auburn was already home to some Austrian economists, including
Roger Garrison. The Mises Institute was affiliated with the Auburn University Business School until 1998 when the institute established its own building across the street from campus.
The Mises Institute aligned itself with what Rothbard called the
Old Right, with "a defense of the gold standard, military isolationism, and 'traditional morality' and opposition to fiat money, supranational institutions, and 'forced integration'", according to academics Niklas Olsen and Quinn Slobodian.
It started the ''
Review of Austrian Economics'' in 1986.
Rothbard and Rockwell coined the name "
paleolibertarians" for socially right-wing libertarians like themselves.
Ronald Hamowy
Ronald Hamowy (; April 17, 1937 – September 8, 2012) was a Canadian academic, known primarily for his contributions to political and social academic fields. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus of intellectual history at the Uni ...
, ed., 2008,
The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism
', Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...
, SAGE, They forged a "paleo alliance" between paleolibertarians and
paleoconservatives in the form of the
John Randolph Club in 1989, which allied the Mises Institute and the paleoconservative
Rockford Institute.
In the early 1990s,
Austrian economist Steven Horwitz called the Mises Institute "a
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
fist in a libertarian glove."
Figures at the Mises Institute were associated with
neo-Confederate positions, and the institute held conferences about
secession
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...
, including one in 1995 in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
, where the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
had begun.
After Rothbard's death in 1996, his protege
Hans-Hermann Hoppe became a leading
anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...
figure of the institute and is known for his anti-democratic writing.
In a 2000 report, the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said that the Mises Institute had shown "recent interest in
neo-Confederate themes" and that Rockwell, the institute's founder, had "argued that the Civil War 'transformed the American regime from a federalist system based on freedom to a centralized state that circumscribed liberty in the name of public order.'"
Kyle Wingfield wrote a 2006 commentary in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' that the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
was a "natural home" for the institute, as "Southerners have always been distrustful of government," with the institute making the "Heart of Dixie a wellspring of sensible economic thinking."
By 2011, ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' said, the Austrian School economics championed by the Mises Institute had "won few mainstream converts". But it noted the think tank's growing presence on the internet as well as its facilities in Auburn including an amphitheater, conservatory, recording studio and library.
The political scientist George Hawley described the Mises Institute in 2016 as "the intellectual epicenter of the radical libertarian movement in the United States".
As of 2022, about 30 Mises Institutes had been created worldwide; some had died off but others, especially Brazil's, had gained influence.
Current activities
The institute describes its mission as to "promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics, and individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard."
Its academic programs include Mises University (non-accredited), Rothbard Graduate Seminar, the Austrian Economics Research Conference, and a summer research fellowship program. In 2020, the Mises Institute began offering a graduate program. It publishes the ''Journal of Libertarian Studies,'' which it took over in 2000 from the
Center for Libertarian Studies.
The German Mises Institute (Ludwig von Mises Institut Deutschland e.V.) is a 2012 founded interest group and think tank of libertarian gold traders and investment advisors, which were associated with Swiss-based German billionaire
August von Finck (1930–2021). Many gold dealers from the von Finck company Degussa Goldhandel are active on the board of the institute; they reject intergovernmental
fiscal policy
In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection ( taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variab ...
and promote gold as a "safe currency". Von Finck was active in economic policy and criticized the EU.
Political and economic views
The Mises Institute describes itself as
libertarian, and as promoting the
Austrian School of economics. In 2003,
Chip Berlet
John Foster "Chip" Berlet (; born November 22, 1949) is an American investigative journalist, research analyst, photojournalist, scholar, and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States. He also studie ...
of the SPLC described it as "a major center promoting libertarian political theory and the Austrian School of free market economics", while also assessing that it favors a "
Darwinian view of society in which elites are seen as natural and any intervention by the government on behalf of social justice is destructive".
The Mises Institute favors the methodology of
Misesian praxeology
In philosophy, praxeology or praxiology (; ) is the theory of human Action (philosophy), action, based on the notion that humans engage in purposeful behavior, contrary to Reflex, reflexive behavior and other unintentional behavior.
French socia ...
("the logic of human action"),
which holds that economic science is
deductive
Deductive reasoning is the process of drawing valid inferences. An inference is valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, meaning that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false. For example, th ...
rather than
empirical
Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law.
There is no general agreement on how t ...
. Developed by Ludwig von Mises, following the ''
Methodenstreit'' opined by
Carl Menger, it opposes the
mathematical model
A mathematical model is an abstract and concrete, abstract description of a concrete system using mathematics, mathematical concepts and language of mathematics, language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed ''mathematical m ...
ing and
hypothesis-testing used to justify knowledge in
neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption, and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a go ...
. Misesian economics is a form of
heterodox economics
Heterodox economics is a broad, relative term referring to schools of economic thought which are not commonly perceived as belonging to mainstream economics. There is no absolute definition of what constitutes heterodox economic thought, as it i ...
.
It is distinct from that of other
Austrian economists
The Austrian school is a Heterodox economics, heterodox Schools of economic thought, school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result primarily from the motivat ...
, including Hayek and those associated with
George Mason University
George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
.
Influence on campaigns and government
The
paleolibertarian economic and cultural views of some of the Mises Institute's leading figures have been influential in the
presidential campaigns of
Ron Paul, the
presidential campaign of
Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011.
A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
, the
presidential campaigns of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, and the
candidacy of Joshua Smith for chair of the
Libertarian Party.
A 2014 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' piece described the Mises Institute as part of
Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011.
A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
's intellectual inheritance.
Candice Jackson, who served as acting head of the
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights during the
Trump Administration, was previously a summer fellow at the Mises Institute and had collaborated on articles for Rockwell's website.
Notable faculty
Notable figures affiliated with the Mises Institute include:
*
Walter Block – Austrian School economist and
anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...
; economics professor at
Loyola University New Orleans
*
Godfrey Bloom – British politician, former Member of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
*
Thomas DiLorenzo – economics professor at
Loyola University Maryland
*
Paul Gottfried –
paleoconservative author, former Professor of Humanities at
Elizabethtown College
*
Hans-Hermann Hoppe –
paleolibertarian and
anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...
business professor at
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...
and founder of
Property and Freedom Society
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...
*
Jesús Huerta de Soto – Professor of Applied Economics at
King Juan Carlos University
*
Jörg Guido Hülsmann – Professor of Economics at The
University of Angers
*
Peter Klein – Professor of Entrepreneurship and Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Entrepreneurship & Free Enterprise at
Baylor University
*
Robert P. Murphy – economist,
Institute for Energy Research
*
Andrew Napolitano – Fox News pundit and former judge
*
Gary North (1942–2022) – co-founder of
Christian reconstructionism and founder of Institute for Christian Economics
*
Ron Paul – physician, author, and former congressman
*
Ralph Raico (1936–2016) – historian and libertarian specializing in European classical liberalism and Austrian economics
*
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) – heterodox economist,
paleolibertarian theorist, polemicist, revisionist historian, and founder of
anarcho-capitalism
*
Joseph Sobran (1946–2010) – journalist, contributor to ''
American Renaissance'' and lecturer at the
Institute for Historical Review
The Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a United States–based nonprofit organization that promotes Holocaust denial. It is considered by many scholars to be central to the international Holocaust denial movement. Self-described as a "his ...
*
Mark Thornton – Austrian School economist
*
Jeffrey A. Tucker – economics writer
*
Joseph T. Salerno – academic vice president of the Mises Institute, Professor of Economics at
Pace University, and editor of the ''Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics''
*
Thomas Woods – historian, political commentator, and author
See also
*
Libertarian Party Mises Caucus
*
Old Right (United States)
References
External links
*
EDIRC listing(provided by
RePEc)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mises, Institute
1982 establishments in Alabama
Auburn, Alabama
Austrian School
Book publishing companies of the United States
Educational charities based in the United States
Libertarian organizations based in the United States
Libertarian think tanks
Neoliberal organizations
Non-profit organizations based in Alabama
Think tanks established in 1982
Political and economic think tanks in the United States