Ludwig von Mises
One of the most notable economists and social philosophers of the twentieth century, Ludwig von Mises, in the course of a long and highly productive life, developed an integrated, deductive science of economics based on the fundamental axiom that individual human beings act purposively to achieve desired goals. Even though his economic analysis itself was “value-free” — in the sense of being irrelevant to values held by economists — Mises concluded that the only viable economic policy for the human race was a policy of unrestricted laissez-faire, of free markets and the unhampered exercise of the right of private property, with government strictly limited to the defense of person and property within its territorial area.
Related Freeman Articles
Feature
Methodological Individualism
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 by WARREN C. GIBSON
"The hangman, not the state, executes a criminal." Ludwig von Mises's insight into the source of human action contains a world of wisdom, says Warren Gibson.
Feature
The Virtue of Market Inefficiency
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 by SANDY IKEDA
Freeman readers know markets excel at creating new efficiencies and improving everyone's lives in the process. The inefficiencies they create might be even more interesting, says Sandy Ikeda.
Feature
Economics and the Calculation Problem
OCTOBER 29, 2012 by ALEX SALTER
Central planning can't deliver resources efficiently because it ignores the full complexity of the price system.Alex Salter lays it out.
The Calling
On Human Action
We owe a debt to Ludwig von Mises.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 by STEVEN HORWITZ
Human Action remains one of the great achievements in the social sciences and perhaps the single most important economic treatise of the twentieth century.
Related Publications
Multimedia
Sheldon Richman talks about Human Action
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 by SHELDON RICHMAN
Sheldon Richman is interviewed about the importance of Ludwig von Mises' Human Action.