The Life, Times, and Work of Ludwig von Mises

3. Theory of Money and Credit

The Life Times and Work of Mises
Jörg Guido Hülsmann

This 1912 book is Mises’ first great theory. Mises agreed with Menger about the spontaneous emergence of money. No government is needed. Mises used a logical proof called the regression theory. It explained why money is demanded in its own right.

Five major contributions Mises made were: 1) the nature of money, 2) a theory of the value of money, 3) the presence of (Cantillon) redistribution effects, 4) purchasing power parity of exchange rates, and 5) a theory of the business cycle.

Lecture 3 of 10 from The Life, Times, and Work of Ludwig von Mises, a George and Joele Eddy Seminar.