Mises University 2005

Come deepen your knowledge of the Austrian School, or discover it for the first time at the 20th annual Mises University.

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.

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, seminars rooms, and retail bookstore, a music conservatory, an outdoor amphitheater, and study gardens.

You’ll stay in a private dormitory that offers comfortable, air-conditioned rooms with desks and private baths, parlor rooms with televisions, a swimming pool, a weight room, computer services, and a helpful staff.

All 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 (Mises Institute)
• Peter Klein (University of Missouri)
• Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
• Robert Murphy (Hillsdale College)
• Ralph Raico (State University College at Buffalo)
• George Reisman (Pepperdine University)
• Joseph T. Salerno (Pace University)
• Mark Thornton (Ludwig von Mises Institute)

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, July 31, 2005

• 5:00-8:00pm Registration at Mises Institute (shuttle from Commons Dormitory/AU Hotel/Heart of Auburn to Mises Institute every half-hour 5:00-8:00)
• 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 - 10:00pm Shuttle departs Mises Institute for dorm/hotels every 15 min.

MONDAY August 1

• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast at Commons Dorm
• 8:30am Shuttle departs dorm for Mises Institute
• 9:00-10:00am The Marginalist Revolution. Salerno.
• 10:15-11:15am 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 Money and Banking. Reisman.
• 2:45-3:45pm Capital and Interest. Hulsmann.
• 4:00-5:00pm Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle (1, 2). Garrison.
• 5:00pm Dinner at the Mises Institute
• 5:45pm Group photo in Hogan Amphitheater
• 6:10pm The Future of Austrian Economics: A Video with Murray Rothbard.  
• 7:00pm The Mises Circle: Memoirs of Hayek in Chicago and Rothbard in New York. Raico. 
• 8:00pm Study/Social Hour
• 8:00-9:00pm Shuttle departs Mises Institute for dorm every 15 minutes

TUESDAY August 2

• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast at Commons Dorm
• 8:30am Shuttle departs Dorm for Mises Institute
• 9:00-10:00am Monopoly and Competition. DiLorenzo.
• 10:10am  Annual Frank Turner Kurzweg Award
• 10:15-11:15am Economics of the Firm. Klein
• 11:30am-12:30pm Austrian vs. Neoclassical Analytics. Murphy
• 12:30-1:30pm Lunch at the Mises Institute
• 1:30-2:30pm Calculation and Socialism. Salerno.
• 2:45-3:45pm Interventionism. Block.
• 4:00-5:00pm Liberalism: What is Living and What is Dead. Raico.
• 5:00pm Dinner at the Mises Institute
• 6:00pm: MISES: THE MUSICAL, starring members of the faculty of Mises University!
• 7:00pm: Memories of Mises, Rothbard, and Rand. Reisman.
• 8:00pm: Study/Social Hour
• 8:00-9:00pm: Shuttle departs Mises Institute for dorm every 15 minutes

WEDNESDAY August 3

• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast at Commons Dorm
• 8:30am Shuttle departs dorm for Mises Institute
• 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
  • Further Explorations in Austrian Value and Utility Theory. Herbener.   
  • Epistemological Problems of Economics. Gordon.
• 10:15-11:15am Concurrent Sessions
  • Theory of Profit, Loss, and Entrepreneurship. Salerno
  • Economics of the Public Sector. DiLorenzo. 
  • Law and Economics. Hoppe.  
• 11:30am-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions 
  • Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle II (1, 2). 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.
  • Classical Liberalism on War and Peace: The Case of Richard Cobden. Raico.
  • Further Considerations in the Theory of Interest. Hülsmann.
• 2:45-3:45pm Concurrent Sessions
  • Economics of F.A. Hayek. Klein.
  • Economics of Risk and Insurance. Hoppe.
• 4:00-5:00pm Concurrent Sessions
  • Macro-applications of Austrian Theory. Garrison.
  • Prohibition and Consumption Controls. Thornton.
  • Consumer Sovereignty and the Production Process. Murphy.
• 5:30pm The Mises Circle: A Theory of Empire. Hoppe.
• 7:00pm Dinner and Social Hour at Rooster’s (one block east from the Mises Institute)
• 8:00pm Shuttle from Rooster’s parking lot to dorm

THURSDAY August 4

• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast at Commons Dorm
• 8:30am Shuttle departs dorm for Mises Institute
• 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
  • The Fallacies of Public Finance. Block.
  • The Persistence of Keynesian Macroeconomics. Herbener.
• 10:15-11:15am Concurrent Sessions
  • The Theory of Political Entrepreneurship. DiLorenzo.
  • The Macroeconomics of Government Finance. Garrison.
  • General Equilibrium Analysis in Austrian Economics. Hülsmann.
• 11:30am-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
  • Theory and History. Gordon.
  • FAQ on the Economics of the Stateless Society. 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.
• 2:45-3:45pm Concurrent Sessions
• • Economics as a Vocation. Klein.
  • 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.  DiLorenzo, Herbener
  • A Critique of Public Choice on Government. Thornton, Block. 
  • Common Errors in Economic Theory. Klein, Murphy.
• 5:00pm Dinner
• 6:00pm The Mises Circle: The History and Betrayal of American Liberty. DiLorenzo 
• 7:00pm Social Hour or Roundtable on Profits and Interest, led by Reisman.
• 8:00pm Shuttle from Mises Institute to dorm/hotels

FRIDAY August 5

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

• 7:30-8:30am Breakfast at Commons Dorm
• 8:30am Shuttle departs dorm for 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
  • Extensions and Applications in Austrian Macroeconomics. Garrison.  
  • The Economics of Information Technology. Klein.  
• 11:30am-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
  • Current Topics in Economic Policy (equal pay, discrimination and the glass ceiling) Block. 
  • Economic Reasoning: The Most Common Fallacies. Gordon.
  • World War I: A Failure of State Elites. Raico
• 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:  DiLorenzo, Klein, Gordon, Herbener, Murphy, Thornton, Block.
  • Macroeconomics: Garrison, Hülsmann, Hoppe, Long, Reisman, Salerno, Raico. 
• 5:00pm Dinner at Mises Institute
• 6:00pm: The Mises Circle: Mystery Speaker
• 7:00pm Study/Social Hour
• 8:00pm  Shuttle from Mises Institute to Auburn dorm/hotels
• 8:30pm  Shuttle from Mises Institute to Opelika hotels  

SATURDAY August 6

• 7:30am  Shuttle from Opelka hotels to Mises Institute
• 8:00am  Shuttle from Auburn dorm/hotels to Mises Institute
• 8:00-8:45am Breakfast at Mises Institute
• 9:00-10:00am Concurrent Sessions
  • International Monetary Systems. Salerno.
  • 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.
• 11:30am-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.
• 3:00pm Shuttle from Mises Institute to Auburn dorm/hotels
• 3:00pm Film in Condon Lecture Hall
• 5:00pm Shuttle from Auburn dorm/hotels to Mises Institute
• 5:30 pm Closing Cook-out, Graduation, and Social Hour at Mises Institute
•  7:00pm  Shuttle from Mises to Auburn dorm/hotels
• 7:30pm  Shuttle from Mises to Opelika hotels