Mises University 2014

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 and cash prizes for the most learned.  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. 

Costs

Through the generosity of Mises Institute Supporters, there is no registration fee at Mises University for students who are accepted (Sponsor a Student). Acceptance is highly selective. All students who are accepted on full scholarship receive complimentary admission to all sessions, refreshment breaks, a double-occupancy dormitory room for 7 nights, transportation between the dorm and the Mises Institute each day, and meals beginning with dinner on Sunday July 20 and ending with dinner on Saturday July 26.

A limited number of Member Observer and Faculty Observer slots are available. Observers  may register online here.  (Mises University Faculty request that Observers refrain from questions or comments during sessions, but there is ample opportunity for Observer discussion and questions during meals and breaks.)

Student dormitory rooms are scheduled for check-in on Sunday, July 20 and check-out on Sunday, July 27. There is a fee of $63 per night for a single room on nights at the dormitory before or after those dates ($55 per person per night before or after those dates if you have a roommate who is arriving and departing on the same dates)

Awards

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. Second and third places will be awarded the George and Joele Eddy Prizes of $1,500 and $750 respectively.

Schedule

The conference begins with registration anytime between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. Central Time at the Mises Institute on Sunday, July 20, with dinner at 6:00 and the first lecture at 7:00 p.m. The last session is Saturday afternoon, July 26 followed by graduation and a cookout. Most people check into the dorm Sunday July 20 and out Sunday July 27.

Student Comments

Mises University has been been refined and improved over the past 27 years with the goal of providing an intense learning experience unparalleled by any other program in the world. Read this student review of Mises University 2009 written by the late John David Fernandez, economics and philosophy student at Columbia College.

THE FACULTY

Mises University faculty are among the finest scholars of Austrian Economics and libertarian political theory in the world, under the direction of Joseph Salerno of Pace University and the Mises Institute.

Other faculty include:  

• Walter Block
• Thomas DiLorenzo
• Lucas Engelhardt
• Roger Garrison
• David Gordon
• Jeffrey Herbener
• Robert Higgs
• Guido Hülsmann
• Peter Klein
• Robert Murphy
• Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
• Timothy Terrell
• Mark Thornton
• Thomas Woods

The Campus

The Mises Institute is adjacent to Auburn University and near the heart of downtown Auburn. The Mises Campus features seminar rooms, an extensive special-collections library, a large archival center housing the papers of Mises, Rothbard and other great Austrian economists, bookstore, a discussion conservatory, an outdoor amphitheater, and study gardens.