Over the course of 27 years, Mises Institute scholars have crafted and perfected a world-class week-long intensive program in Austrian economics: Mises University. This program has changed the lives of thousands of undergraduate students. Now, thanks to the support of our generous donors, it can change your life too, even if you cannot make it to Auburn. You can enroll in Virtual Mises University, and partake in the intellectual feast over the Internet.
Virtual Mises University offers live broadcasts throughout each day of the conference of all the core Mises University lectures. But you DON’T have to be available during the broadcast times to take the course. Video recordings of the core lectures, and audio recordings of all the lectures will also be posted to the course page afterward, and will remain available long after the course is over. The course provides all of the readings that are required for the on-site attendees, as well as dedicated social and academic forums for students to discuss what they are learning and network with others who share their passion.
The online course also provides digital copies of any lecture materials (powerpoints, handouts, etc.) used by professors during their presentation.
Students who post in the course academic forum at least 10 times will be able to download a Certificate of Participation.
We are very excited to be able to offer this unmatched educational experience to anyone in the world, without being limited by physical space or geographic proximity.
Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to provide unlimited access to Virtual Mises University for only $20!
(No refunds. All registrations for this program are final.)
Broadcast schedule (All times are Central Standard):
Sunday, July 22 — 8:00 p.m.
Monday, July 23 — 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 1:30 – 5:15 p.m.
Tuesday, July 24 — 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 1:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, July 25 — 11:30 a.m.; 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 26 — 9:00 a.m.; 4:00 p.m.
Friday, July 27 — 2:45 p.m.
Saturday, July 28 — 1:30 p.m.
The Faculty
Mises University faculty are among the finest scholars of Austrian Economics and libertarian political theory in the world.
- Joseph Salerno (MU Director), Pace University & Mises Institute
- Philipp Bagus, University Rey Juan Carlos
- Walter Block, Loyola University, New Orleans
- Thomas DiLorenzo, Loyola University Maryland
- Lucas Engelhardt, Kent State University
- Roger Garrison, Auburn University
- David Gordon, Mises Review
- Jeffrey Herbener, Grove City College
- Robert Higgs, The Independent Institute
- Guido Hulsmann, University of Angers
- Peter Klein, University of Missouri
- Roderick Long, Auburn University
- Robert Murphy, Consulting by RPM
- Gary North, GaryNorth.com
- Timothy Terrell, Wofford College
- Mark Thornton, Mises Institute & Auburn University
- Thomas Woods, Mises Institute
- Leland Yeager, Auburn University
Virtual Mises University 2012 Schedule
Special thanks to the generous donors who made Virtual Mises University possible.
All times are central daylight time.
Green events will be broadcast live, video recorded, and audio recorded.
Orange events will be video recorded and audio recorded
only.
Red events will be audio recorded only.
Sunday July 22
8:00 p.m.
Welcome Thornton (Wolfe Lecture Hall)
8:15 p.m. Warfare, Welfare, and the State Higgs
Monday July 23
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. The Birth of the Austrian School Salerno
10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Subjective Value and Market Prices Herbener
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Praxeology: The Method of Economics Gordon
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. The Division of Labor and Social Order Hulsmann
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Money Bagus
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Austrian Capital Theory Garrison
6:30 p.m. An Evening with Tom Woods (optional)
Tuesday July 24
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. An Austrian Critique of Mainstream Economics Block
10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Calculation and Socialism Salerno
11:30 a.m.-12:30p.m. Production and the Firm Klein
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Monopoly, Competition, and Antitrust DiLorenzo
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Banking and Financial Markets Bagus
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle Garrison
Wednesday July 25
9:00 -10:00 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Market for Security Murphy
(Explains how a free market could provide defense and legal services without a government monopoly.)
* 2. Errors, Business Cycles, and Government Stimulus Engelhardt (Highlights the role of error in the Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle, gives some justification for this role, and highlights how the most “effective” government stimulus will also be the biggest waste of resources.)
10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Everyday Logic of Economics Gordon (Explains how economic reasoning applies to some current problems and discusses common fallacies.
2. Hayek and Keynes: Head to Head Garrison (Graphical demonstration that relaxing three critical-but-implausible assumptions underlying Keynes’s theorizing allows the Keynesian framework to morph into the Austrian framework.)
11:30am-12:30pm The Market for Quality Assurance Higgs
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Concurent Sessions
1. Contrasting Views of the Great Depression Murphy (Explains the Austrian, Keynesian, and monetarist explanations of the Great Depression.)
2. Environmental & Resource Economics Terrell
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Economics and Property Rights: Alternative Approaches Block
* 2. Financial Markets in a Free Society Hulsmann (The nature and scope of financial markets.)
4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Mises and Rothbard: Differences on Economic Theory and Political Economy Faculty Panel with Q&A (Block, Gordon, Herbener, Higgs, Hulsmann, Klein, Salerno)
Thursday July 26
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. The Case for Privatization — of Everything Block
10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Political Entrepreneurship and the Economics of Wealth Destruction DiLorenzo (Economics of political trickery and its wealth-destroying effects.)
2. Common Objections to Capitalism Terrell
11:30am-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
1. The Economics of the Drug War Thornton (Many people oppose the “war on drugs” but only Austrian economic analysis shows why it is economically irrational.)
* 2. The Economics of Deflation Hulsmann (Advanced lecture on the causes and consequences of deflation, highlighting the liberating impact of deflation.)
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. The Corrupt Origins of Central Banking in America DiLorenzo (The real purpose of central banking was to enlarge the state and destroy constitutional limitations on government.)
* 2. Entrepreneurs vs. Game Theory Engelhardt (Questions some common applications of game theory, such as the Prisoners’ Dilemma, by highlighting how entrepreneurs can change the very structure of the “game” being played – leading to different outcomes than a more traditional, static view of game theory suggets.)
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. The Problems with Keynesian Solutions to the Current Depression Murphy (Focuses on the specific commentary of Paul Krugman and other Keynesians regarding Obama stimulus and Bernanke’s inflation.)
2. Prediction and the Business Cycle Thornton (Ever wonder why Austrian economists have called every major economic crisis while mainstream economists have not?)
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. The Austrian School in the Present Crisis Tom Woods
Friday July 27
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. The Eurocrisis Bagus
2. Mises and Friedman on Method Long (Explains how Milton Friedman’s rejection of Austrian realism and his rejection of Austrian apriorism are both rooted in a confusion over the nature of abstraction and the relation between logic and psychology.)
10:15 -11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Hayek and Friedman: Head to Head Garrison (Contrasts Chicago school’s focus on “macroeconomic variations of substantial size and frequency” with Austrian school’s focus on “market forces hidden from the untrained eye” to demonstrate superiority of Austrian theory.)
2. Issues in the Economics of Medical Care Terrell
11:30am-12:30pm Concurrent Sessions
1. International Monetary Systems Salerno
2. Apriorism and Positivism in the Social Sciences Gordon (Compares and contrasts Mises’s praxeology with Positivism.)
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. Theory and History Gordon (Discusses Mises’s views on historical explanation and his criticism of Marxism.)
* 2. Time Preference Theory of Interest & Its Critics Herbener (A restatement of the pure time preference theory advanced by Frank Fetter, Ludwig von Mises, and Murray Rothbard and defense of the theory from its critics.)
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Uncertainty and Entrepreneurship Klein
4:00 – 5:45 p.m. Panels
1. Philosophy & Theory: Garrison, Hulsmann, Long, Herbener, Gordon, Salerno, Bagus
2. History: DiLorenzo, Klein, Thornton, Terrell, Woods, Engelhardt, Murphy
Saturday July 2
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
* 1. Microeconomics of Central Banking Klein (The organization, management, governance, and incentives of central banks.)
2. Anti-Market Mythology DiLorenzo (The phony mythology of “natural monopoly,” “asymmetric information,” “path dependence,” antitrust, and other anti-market fables)
10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
1. The Ethics of Money Production Hulsmann (Advanced lecture presenting the economic and moral case against fiat money.)
* 2. On the Impossibility of Central Planning Engelhardt (Describes the Information and Computation problems.)
11:30am-12:30pm Panel on Monetary Policy: Salerno, Hulsmann, Thornton, Garrison, Bagus, Engelhardt, Murphy
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Economics: Job vs Calling Gary North
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* Recommended for economics majors.
