Ludwig von Mises

"Людвіг фон Мізес"

Maryna Lukach

Ludwig von Mises, born in Lviv in 1881, was one of the most renowned economists of the 20th century. His ideas were consistently ahead of their time, forcing him to remain in opposition for most of his life. He would only gain well-deserved recognition in his later years; a year after his death, his student Friedrich von Hayek was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Mises was born in Lviv. His father worked on railway construction—initially in Galicia and later in Bukovyna—so the family also lived in Chernivtsi for a time. He was educated in Vienna, where he earned his doctorate at the age of 27; at 31, he wrote *The Theory of Money and Credit*, which became a sensation across Europe. Even then, the scholar warned central banks against reckless lending, noting that it encouraged entrepreneurs to undertake risky projects destined for failure. When such projects proliferated, the result was inflation and economic collapse. The book would become a major topic of discussion two decades later, when the Great Depression struck the United States. The accuracy of Ludwig von Mises’s predictions has ensured the enduring value of his ideas. Building upon his monetary theory, Mises developed the Austrian theory of the business cycle. His theory traces the causes of recurring business cycles—and the associated periods of expansion and recession—found in modern economies. By the late 1980s, even staunch proponents of socialism were forced to admit that Mises’s theory regarding the superiority of the free market had indeed been vindicated. At the annual meeting of the Eastern Economic Association in New Orleans, an event titled "Mises Was Right" was held. He was an honorary doctor of New York University and the University of Freiburg (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany); a recipient of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (1962); and an honorary member of the American Economic Association (1969).