Mises University 2007


July 29-August 4, 2007
Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama

Mises University is open to full-time students, faculty, and current Members of the Mises Institute (Click HERE to join). Interested full-time students can apply now to receive a scholarship covering full tuition, housing, and meals (catered and served at the Mises Institute). Faculty may use the full-time faculty registration form  (includes full tuition and meals, housing extra). Members can use the Member Observer form (includes full tuition and meals, housing extra). 

AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

Rooted in the tradition of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises, as well as Murray Rothbard and F.A. Hayek, the Austrian School offers a rigorous and logical approach to economics that gives free markets their due and takes full account of the reality of human choice.

More than a field within economics, the Austrian School is an entirely different approach that dissents from the mainstream on method, theory, and policy. It views economic actors as unique, conscious, and freely choosing individuals, not as undifferentiated data to be manipulated mathematically or politically.

THE PROGRAM

The Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics. Since 1986, it has been the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.

The program offers courses, seminars, and reading groups on the whole range of the discipline. A core curriculum presents economic foundations, and more than fifty elective classes explore the entire range of economics, in all levels of advancement. The program ends with a Mündliche Prüfung, an optional exam for an honors certificate.

Some very good news for those students who attend the Mises University : The student who emerges from the oral examinations (the Mündliche Prüfung) with the best record, as chosen by the examining committee, will be awarded the Douglas E. French Scholarship Prize of $2,500. The second highest score will receive the George and Joele Eddy Prize of $1500. The winners will be announced and the prize money given at the closing cookout.
Subject areas cover market behavior, competition, value and utility, money and banking, business cycles, industrial organization, method, economic history, the philosophy of science, financial economics, and more. You attend what most suits your interests and level of advancement.

Classes are interspersed with reading groups, discussion seminars, faculty panels, and plenary lectures. There are special sessions on economic history, economics and ethics, and political philosophy. Nightly social hours allow time to meet and discuss it all with faculty and other students. There's even a primer on surviving graduate school.

All students must be familiar with the Required Readings prior to attending. You might also examine the lecture notes of David Heinrich (Class of 2004), which covers approx. 2/3 of the conference (many sessions are parallel).

THE CAMPUS

The Mises Institute, the world center for the scholarship of liberty, is located adjacent to the campus of Auburn University and near the heart of uptown Auburn. The recently expanded Mises Campus features seminar rooms, an extensive special-collections library, a large archival center housing the papers of Mises and other great Austrian economists, seminar rooms, and retail bookstore, a music conservatory, an outdoor amphitheater, and study gardens.

You'll stay at the Cambridge Dormitory, a private residential dorm near the Mises Institute, offering comfortable, air-conditioned rooms with private baths, laundry and computer facilities, fitness room, and an outdoor pool.

Breakfast will be served at the dormitory and all other meals are catered and will be enjoyed at the library and gardens of the Mises Institute. Classes will be in the seminar rooms and library of the Mises Institute. Nightly social hours will offer refreshments and movies in an informal atmosphere ideal for discussing new ideas from the daily lectures or for making new friends.

THE FACULTY

Walter Block (Loyola University, New Orleans)
Thomas DiLorenzo (Loyola College, Baltimore)
Roger Garrison (Auburn University)
David Gordon (Mises Review)
Jeffrey M. Herbener (Grove City College)
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Jörg Guido Hülsmann (University of Angers)
Peter Klein (University of Missouri)
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
Robert Murphy (New York University)
Ralph Raico (State University College at Buffalo)
George Reisman (Pepperdine University)
Joseph T. Salerno(Pace University)
Mark Thornton (Ludwig von Mises Institute)
Thomas Woods (Ludwig von Mises Institute)


THE CONSUMERS SAY: See this compendium of student comments

 The Schedule

SUNDAY, July 29, 2006

  • Anytime between 5:00-8:00pm Registration at Mises Institute (bus between Cambridge Dorm and Mises Institute every half hour)
  • 7:00pm Dinner at the Mises Institute
  • 8:00pm Welcoming remarks, faculty introductions. Thornton.
  • 8:15pm The Life and Work of Ludwig von Mises.Raico.
  • 9:00 Social Hour
  • 9:00, 9:30, and 10:00pm Shuttle departs Mises Institute for dorm

MONDAY July 30

  • 7:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast at dorm
  • 8:30 and 8:45am  shuttle from dorm to Mises Institute
  • 9:00-10:00am The Marginalist Revolution. Salerno.
  • 10:00am Group Photo
  • 10:15-11:00am Value, Utility, and Price. Herbener. 
  • 11:30am-12:30pm Praxeology: The Austrian Method. Hoppe.
  • 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at Mises Institute
  • 1:30-2:30pm The Division of Labor and Society.Hülsmann.
  • 2:45-3:45pm Money and Banking. (See reading list )  Reisman.
  • 4:00-5:00pm Capital and Interest.Murphy.
  • 5:00pm Dinner at the Mises Institute
  • 6:00pm Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle. Garrison.
  • 7:00pm The Mises Circle. Economics and the Historians. Woods
  • 8:00, 8:30, and 9:00pm Shuttle to dorm
  • 8:00pm Study/Social Hour

TUESDAY July 31

  • 7:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast at dorm
  • 8:30 and 8:45am  shuttle from dorm to Mises Institute
  • 9:00-10:00am Monopoly and Competition. DiLorenzo.
  • 10:00-10:30am  Group Photo in Amphitheatre
    10:30-11:30am Economics of the Firm. Klein
  • 11:45am-12:45pm Austrian vs. Neoclassical Analytics. Murphy
  • 12:45-1:30pm Lunch
  • 1:30-2:30pm Calculation and Socialism. Salerno.
  • 2:45-3:45pm Interventionism. Block.
  • 4:00-5:00pm Liberalism. Raico.
  • 5:00pm Dinner at the Mises Institute
  • 6:00pm: The Mises Circle: The Indefensible State. Hoppe. Followed by Study/Social Hour
  • 8:00, 8:30, and 9:00pm: Shuttle to dorm

WEDNESDAY August 1

  • 7:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast at dorm
  • 8:30 and 8:45am shuttle from dorm to Mises
  • 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
    • Further Explorations in Austrian Value and Utility Theory. Herbener.   
    • Epistemological Problems of Economics. Gordon.
    • Keynes and Hayek: Head to Head. Garrison.
  • 10:15-:11:15am Concurrent Sessions
    • Theory of Profit, Loss, and Entrepreneurship. Salerno
    • Law and Economics. Hoppe.  
  • 11:30-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions 
    • The Great Depression. Garrison.
    • Environmental and Resource Economics. Reisman.
    • Friedman vs. Mises on Method. Long.
  • 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at Mises Institute
  • 1:30-2:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • On Private Property. Block.
    • Liberalism on War and Peace. Raico.
    • Further Considerations in the Theory of Interest. Hülsmann.
  • 2:45-3:45pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Economics of F.A. Hayek. Klein. Massey Library
    • Consumer Sovereignty and the Production Process. Murphy
    • Economics of Risk and Insurance. Hoppe.
  • 4:00pm  Break for the afternoon/optional study time
    5:00-6:00pm Optional dinner at Mises Institute

THURSDAY August 2

  • 7:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast at dorm
  • 8:30 and 8:45am  shuttle from dorm to Mises Institute
  • 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
    • The Fallacies of Public Finance. Block.
    • On Doing Economic History. Woods.
    • The Persistence of Keynesian Macroeconomics. Herbener.
  • 10:15-11:15am Concurrent Sessions
    • The Theory of Political Entrepreneurship. DiLorenzo.
    • The Fiscal Issues: Tax and Deficit Finance. Garrison.
    • General Equilibrium Analysis in Austrian Economics. Hülsmann.
  • 11:30-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Theory and History. Gordon.
    • Austrian Answers to Neoclassical Puzzles. Murphy.
    • Time and Uncertainty. Herbener
  • 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at the Mises Institute
  • 1:30-2:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • The Benevolence of Capitalism.Reisman.
    • The Economics of Deflation. Hülsmann.
    • World War I: Failure of the State Elites. Raico
  • 2:45-3:45pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Economics as a Profession. Klein.
    • Economics of the Public Sector. DiLorenzo. 
    • Mises and Rothbard in the History of Thought. Salerno.
  • 4:00-5:00pm Concurrent Seminars
    • Theory and History. Hoppe, Hülsmann.
    • Economics and Ethics. Gordon, Long.
    • The Corporate State. Woods, Thornton
    • A Critique of Public Choice on Government. DiLorenzo, Block. 
    • Common Errors in Economic Theory. Herbener, Klein, Murphy.
  • 5:00pm Dinner
  • 6:00pm The Mises Circle: The Lincoln Cult. DiLorenzo  
  • 7:00pm Study/Social Hour
  • 8:00, 8:30, and 9:00pm Shuttle to dorm

FRIDAY August 3

(Deadline for signing up for Mündliche Prüfung at 5:00pm today. Sign-up sheet and testing information are at front desk.)

  • 7:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast at dorm
  • 8:30 and 8:45am  shuttle from dorm to Mises Institute
  • 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
    • Health Economics. Block. 
    • The Free Market and Shareholder Rights. Klein.
    • Protectionism: Origin and Effects. DiLorenzo
  • 10:15-11:15pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Vienna vs. Chicago on Monetary Issues. Garrison.  
    • International Monetary Systems. Salerno. Massey Library
    • American Presidents vs. Economic Law. Woods.
  • 11:30-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Current Topics in Economic Policy (equal pay, discrimination and the glass ceiling) Block. 
    • Economic Reasoning: The Most Common Fallacies. Gordon.
  • 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at Mises Institute
  • 1:30-2:30 Concurrent Sessions
    • New Directions for Austrian Economists. Salerno.  
    • The Economics of Inflation. Reisman.
  • 2:45-3:45pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Protection and the Market for Security. Hoppe.  
    • Economics and its Ethical Assumptions. Long.
  • 4:00-5:00pm Faculty Panels
    • Microeconomics: Block, DiLorenzo, Klein, Gordon, Herbener, Murphy, Woods, Thornton.
    • Macroeconomics: Garrison, Hülsmann, Block, Hoppe, Long, Reisman, Salerno. 
  • 5:00pm Dinner at Mises Institute
  • 6:00pm: The Mises Circle: Mystery Speaker.
  • 7:00pm Study/Social Hour
    7:00, 7:30, and 8:00pm  Shuttle to dorm

SATURDAY August 4

  • 8:00-8:45am Shuttle from Day's Inn/Commons Dorm to Mises every 15 minutes
  • 8:00-8:45am Breakfast at Mises Institute
  • 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
    • The Economics of Information Technology. Klein.
    • The Rothbardian Theory of Taxes. DiLorenzo.
    • The Economics of Legal Tender Laws. Hülsmann.
  • 10:15-11:15am Concurrent Sessions
    • Economics of Political Centralization. Hoppe.  
    • The American Austrians. Herbener.
  • 11:30-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • The Path to Sound Money. Reisman.
    • Business Cycles and Prediction. Thornton.
  • 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at Mises Institute
  • 1:30-2:30pm Concurrent Sessions
    • Recent Books Important to Austrians. Gordon.  
    • Apriorism and Positivism in the Social Sciences. Long.
  • 2:45pm Study Time and Mündliche Prüfung (optional exams for honors certificate: Those who would like to have their knowledge tested at the end of the conference may choose to take part in an oral exam (German: Mündliche Prüfung). Other than in the U.S. and many other countries, viva voce examination has always been, and is still, the standard form of exam in Central Europe. A jury composed of three to five professors from our faculty will engage each examinee in a 10-15 minutes question-and-answer session based on the readings and the lectures you attend. Those who pass will receive a graded certificate. Each faculty panel will select one student as the leading candidate from its examinations. The three students will then undergo a deeper examination. The student selected by the faculty as the most learned of the conference will receive a cash award of $2,500.
  • 3:00pm Film in Condon Lecture Hall
  • 5:30 pm Closing Cook-out, Graduation, and Social Hour at Mises Institute
  • 7:30-8:30pm Shuttle from Mises Institute to dorm every 15 minutes

HOW TO APPLY

If you are a full-time student, graduate or undergraduate, fill out the on-line Student Scholarship Application which can be sent by mail or email attachment. The application deadline is July 15, 2007. Economics majors have priority, but students in all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

You must also send the following items to the Institute via email with attachments to pat@mises.org , or by fax to 734-448-8148, or via regular mail to Mises University, 518 W. Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama 36832.   

  • unofficial copy of your transcript
  • copy of your student ID
  • No student scholarship application will be considered until it is complete.

If accepted, you must then familiarize yourself with the Required Readings, most of which are available on Mises.org.

There are openings available for faculty members at the rate of $375, which covers tuition and meals. Use this faculty registration form.

A limited number of Observer spaces are available. The price of $675 includes all meals, lectures, and student materials.For hotels in the Auburn area, click HERE. Use this Member Observer registration form. For questions, email pat@mises.org.

Accommodations: See Hotels in the Auburn Area or register on-line for a room at the Cambridge Dormitory.