Was Mises Right?

Boettke, Peter J.; Leeson, Peter T.

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Was Mises Right?

Review of Social Economy, Vol. 64, No. 2, June 2006

19 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2010 Last revised: 9 Nov 2012

See all articles by Peter J. Boettke

Peter J. Boettke

George Mason University - Department of Economics; Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Peter T. Leeson

George Mason University - Department of Economics; George Mason University - Mercatus Center

Date Written: 2006

Abstract

This paper argues that Mises’s methodological position has been misunderstood by both friends and foes alike. On the one hand, Mises’s critics wrongly characterize his position as rejecting empirical work. On the other hand, his defenders wrongly interpret his stance as rejecting empirical analyses on the grounds that they contradict apriorism and push economics towards historicism. We show that Mises’s methodological position occupies a unique place that is at once both wholly aprioristic and radically empirical.

Keywords: Ludwig von Mises, economic methodology, apriorism

JEL Classification: B31, B41, B53

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Boettke, Peter J. and Leeson, Peter T., Was Mises Right? (2006). Review of Social Economy, Vol. 64, No. 2, June 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1696159