[A-List] Academic life of Mises

[Annewilliamson]

There's more to the story, Mine.  After Mises's entire oeuvre in Vienna was
take by the Nazis (it later resurfaced in Moscow circa 1996 to the joy of
Austrians everywhere, and - quite fortuitously - "Human Action" was not
seized since he wrote his masterwork while teaching at a private institute
in Zurich), he had the courage to come to the United States and begin a new
life.  At the time, the US was saturated with Keynesism -- the very economic
engine of Big Government -- and Mises' ideas of liberty and free markets
were too outre for words -- or tenure, anywhere.  Eventually he landed at
Columbia and his salary was drawn from the contributions of many private
donors.  I wonder how many intellectuals and scholars could survive if they
had no succor but what civil society would step up to provide?  At any rate,
denigrating a principled man and a dedicated scholar by underscoring his
association with the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (whose books he balanced)
certainly leaves a sour taste.  Poor Mises, unlike Marx he was not heir to a
great fortune through an elderly aunt! - Anne

----- Original Message -----
From: "xxxx" <xxxx at verizon.net>
To: "A-List" <a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2002 6:42 PM
Subject: [A-List] Academic life of Mises


> About Mises' "prestigious but unsalaried" career as a proffessor of
> economics at the University of Vienna, and his salaried career at the
> Austrian Chamber of Commerce; (similar to the U.S Department of Commerce).
>
> http://www.mises.org/mises.asp
>
> **Mises was born in 1881 in the Austro-Hungarian city of Lemberg, the son
of
> a successful engineer. At the age of 19, he entered the University of
> Vienna, and received his doctorate at 27.
> In the intellectually stimulating atmosphere of the University of Vienna,
> the young Mises studied in the tradition of the founder of the Austrian
> School, Carl Menger. Mises also attended the seminar of the other giant of
> the School, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. Along with teaching, Böhm-Bawerk was
> finance minister of Austria-Hungary, and he put the School's ideas into
> practice by balancing the budget and establishing a gold standard.
>
> (skip)
>
> Seen as holding unfashionable and outdated views, he was never to receive
> the academic rewards that were his due. For example, Mises's position as
> privatdozent at the University of Vienna was prestigious but unsalaried,
so
> his income from 1909 to 1934 came from his position as economic advisor,
and
> then chief economic advisor, to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, similar
to
> the U.S. Department of Commerce.
>
> **************************************************
> xxxx A. xxxx
> Ph.D Candidate, ABD
> Department of Political Science
> Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
> University at Albany, S.U.N.Y.
> 135 Western Avenue
> Albany, NY 12222
> xxxx at verizon.net
> ***************************************************
> "Frequently the only possible answer is a critique of the
> question and the only solution is to negate the question."
> Grundrisse, "The Chapter on Money,"
> ****************************************************
>
>
>
>