Ludwig von Mises is now Latin America’s favourite economist: Tyler Cowen

Ludwig von Mises, a once marginal Austrian economist, is experiencing a resurgence, particularly in Latin America. Influential figures like Argentine President Javier Milei and Brazilian UFC fighter Renato Moicano are championing Mises's ideas, highlighting his principles on socialism, free speech, and private property. As Mises's uncompromising economic theories gain traction amidst the region's political and economic unrest, this revival reflects a profound shift in free-market sentiments, challenging conventional liberal economic thought and suggesting a turning tide in how economic policies are approached in volatile times..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..By Tyler Cowen.The Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises is having a moment, especially in Latin America. Argentine President Javier Milei admires Mises, and he has adopted some Misesian ideas, such as the notion that "the middle of the road leads to socialism." Milei used to be an academic economist and knows the ideas of Mises well. .___STEADY_PAYWALL___.More colorfully, on Saturday the Brazilian UFC fighter Renato Moicano delivered an on-camera polemic (warning: audio in link NSFW) in praise of Mises and defending free speech and private property. His impromptu lecture pointed listeners to Mises and what he called the six lessons of the Austrian School of Economics, as well as his forthcoming podcast. Those lessons — as well as a G-rated version of Moicano's economics lecture, and a Mises-inspired speech on business-cycle theory by President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador — are available on the website of the (US-based) Mises Institute..That is an impressive comeback for Mises, who died in 1973 without ever receiving mainstream acceptance in academia. After emigrating to the US in 1940, he retired as a visiting professor in 1969. Yet as of this writing he has three titles on Amazon's list of the 10 best-selling economics books..The (relative) rise of Mises has occurred both among the mainstream and within free-market circles. Externally, many countries in Latin America have been seeing their prosperity slip away. Argentina has been known since Peronist times for its poor economic performance, but more recently the decay has become more obvious. When I visited Buenos Aires last year, it was dirtier, poorer and more ill-tempered than when I visited in 2006. The country remains in the midst of a hyperinflation. Whether or not you agree with Milei's policies, it should not be a surprise that the electorate has turned to radical remedies, including ideas from Mises and other libertarian economists..Meanwhile, among free-market types, the vibes have shifted in a way that has boosted the influence of Mises. For a comparison, the ideas of Friedrich A. Hayek were ascendant in classical liberal circles during the 1990s, in part because Hayek had won a Nobel Prize. Hayek's writing style was also more gentle, while Mises was uncompromising. As Hayek said about Mises's book on socialism, published in 1922: "At first we all felt he was frightfully exaggerating and even offensive in tone.".Read more: 🔒 Ian Macleod on the Austrian antidote to South Africa's decline.Milton Friedman was another great economic thinker of the 20th century, and he was renowned for always smiling and never losing his temper at his intellectual opponents. Friedman wrote a book called Capitalism and Freedom. Hayek's was called The Constitution of Liberty. Mises, meanwhile, was producing books with titles such as Omnipotent Government and The Anti-Capitalist Mentality. He was the one of that troika who allied himself with Ayn Rand..Today, however, many of Mises's proclamations no longer sound as outdated as they might have a few decades ago. In his treatise Human Action, he was fond of stressing "Man Acts" as a fundamental principle of economic and social analysis. Whatever that might have meant at the time, these days I would not be surprised to find a comparable phrase in a Jordan Peterson book. Indeed, Peterson recently expressed his admiration for Moicano's endorsement of Mises..Opinions will differ on whether the resurgence of Mises is a good thing. All I can say is that I think about Mises more than I did 10 years ago. His early books Socialism and Liberalism are 20th-century classics and remain underrated. Marx and Engels also had their polemical side, and yet they still are cited frequently in polite company and treated as serious thinkers..Mises, despite his excesses, was far more correct than they were. Nor can he — unlike Keynes and Marx — be accused of anti-Semitism. Mises, a Jew who fled from the Nazis, was a lifelong advocate of cosmopolitanism..As for Latin America, Mises may be just the kind of market-oriented thinker the region needs. Polemics do sometimes cut through the obfuscations of political discourse. Friedman and Hayek's generosity toward their opponents is perhaps not the best strategy for the notoriously brutal politics of Latin America. And some of Mises's more impolite notions — such as the idea that economic policy can simply become worse and worse over time — seem to be proving out in countries such as Brazil, which has been mostly stagnant for a long time now..All this said, if you happen to live in a place that needs a dose of Mises — well, it's not a good sign. He wasn't right about everything, of course. But if you constantly hear Mises's ideas being invoked, it probably means there is a lot about your country's economy that needs fixing..Read also:.Anglo American Platinum announces 15% job cuts amidst economic pressuresFrom 1780s London to 2023 South Africa: Finding parallels in societal unrest and political reactions – Jeremy Gordin🔒 Latin America has learned how to fight a financial crisis.© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Ludwig von Mises is now Latin America’s favourite economist: Tyler Cowen

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