Rothbard Graduate Seminar 2014

Sponsored by Alice Lillie

The purpose of the Rothbard Graduate Seminar is to provide an intense study of Misesian and Rothbardian economic analytics, along with the substantive conclusions of that research in related fields.

The core text is Economic Controversies, which each attendee will receive. The schedule is forthcoming. Welcoming remarks and discussions take place over dinner Sunday June 8. Sessions begin Monday morning June 9 and end Friday late afternoon June 13.

Attendance is limited to a small number of exceptional students who are pursuing graduate degrees in economics, history, philosophy, law, political science, and business disciplines and who seek a career in academia or research.

Applicants must be current graduate students or provide a copy of graduate school acceptance for the fall.

Students wishing to apply to receive a scholarship to attend Rothbard Graduate Seminar 2014 should register or login to Mises Academy and under Courses go to Applications, then to Rothbard Graduate Seminar Application. At this site each applicant must provide a copy of the following: student photo ID, Unofficial Academic Transcript, one letter of academic recommendation, and a writing sample. Students are also required to complete the Student Application questionnaire and agree to the terms of the Visiting Scholars Manual. Applications are due by May 4, 2014.

Scholarships include study materials, meals, dormitory accommodations with arrival Sunday, June 8 and departure Saturday, June 14, and transportation between the dorm and the Institute each day.  Students are responsible for the cost of transportation to Auburn. (Most people fly into Atlanta airport, 100 miles north of Auburn.)

The Mises Institute receives many more qualified applications than we have room to accommodate so it is highly recommended that students submit applications as soon as possible.

A very limited number of Observer slots are available, with a registration fee of $1800 for Members, and $875 for full-time teachers and professors, which includes sessions and meals, but not accommodations.  Dormitory accommodations are available at $63 per night, single room with bath, using the registration link below. Or at Auburn University Hotel using this link for a special rate of $119 per night plus tax, before May 19. 

Faculty request that Observers refrain from questions or comments during the sessions but welcome discussion during meals and breaks. Please contact Patricia Barnett with questions.

Download Economic Controversies and Strictly Confidential from our literature section. A printed copy of these books is available to attendees upon request.

Faculty

• Joseph T. Salerno, Pace Univesity, RGS Director
• Jeffrey Herbener, Grove City College
• Peter Klein, University of Missouri
• David Gordon, Mises Review
• Mark Thornton, Mises Institute

Sunday, June 8

5:45 p.m. Shuttle from Rothbard Village, GameDay Center, and Auburn University Hotel to Little Italy Pizzeria (129 E. Magnolia) (Walking directions to Little Italy on page 5)

6:00 p.m. Registration, welcoming remarks, discussion, dinner at Little Italy (Salerno)

8:00 p.m. Return shuttle to Rothbard Village, GameDay Center, and Auburn University Hotel

Monday, June 9

8:30 Shuttle from AU Hotel to Mises Institute; Contintental Breakfast at Institute; Bookstore open

Session 1

9:00-10:00 a.m. Lecture: Praxeology (Gordon)

10:15-11:45 a.m. Discussion

• EC 1: The Mantle of Science
• EC 2: What is the Proper Way to Study Man?
• EC 3: Praxeology as the Method of the Social Sciences
• EC 4: Praxeology: The Methodology of Austrian Economics

11:45 a.m. Lunch at Institute

Session 2

1:15-2:15 p.m. Lecture: Methdological debates (Herbener)

2:30-4:15 p.m. Discussion

• EC 12: Value Implications of Economic Theory
• EC 5: Praxeology, Value Judgments, and Public Policy
• EC 6: In Defense of “Extreme Apriorism”
• EC 7: Praxeology: Reply to Mr. Schuller
• EC 8: The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics

4:15 p.m.  Research time

5:00 p.m.  Bookstore closes

5:30 p.m.  Dinner at Institute

6:30 p.m.  Shuttle to hotel

9:00 p.m.  Mises libraries close

Tuesday, June 10

8:30 Shuttle from AU Hotel to Mises Institute; Contintental Breakfast at Institute; Bookstore open

Session 3

9:00-10:00 a.m. Lecture: Microeconomics (Klein)

10:15-11:45 a.m. Discussion

• EC 14: The Myth of Efficiency
• EC 13: The Myth of Efficiency
• EC 14: Breaking Out of the Walrasian Box: Schumpeter and Hansen
• EC 15: Professor Rolph on the Discounted Marginal Productivity Theory
• EC 16: Professor Kirzner on Entrepreneurship
• EC 17: Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics
• EC 33: Restrictionist Pricing of Labor
• SC IV-5: Review of Lawrence Abbott, Quality and Competition and Anthony Scott, Natural Resources: The Economics of Conservation
• SC IV-12: Untitled Letter Critical of Chicago School Economics
• SC IV-15: Competition and the Economists

11:45 a.m. Lunch at Institute

Session 4

1:15-2:15 p.m. Lecture: Taxation and Public Finance (Thornton)

2:30-4:15 p.m. Discussion

• EC 24: The Myth of Neutral Taxation
• EC 25: The Myth of Tax “Reform”
• EC 26: The Consumption Tax: A Critique
• EC 27: The Case Against the Flat Tax
• EC 30: The Value-Added Tax is Not the Answer

4:15 p.m.  Research time

5:00 p.m.  Bookstore closes

5:30 p.m.  departs from front of Mises Institute for dinner at Cheeburger, Cheeburger

9:00 p.m.  Mises libraries close

Wednesday, June 11

8:30 Shuttle from AU Hotel to Mises Institute; Contintental Breakfast at Institute; Bookstore open

Session 5

9:00-10:00 a.m. Lecture: Monetary Theory (Salerno)

10:15-11:45 a.m. Discussion

• EC 37: The Austrian Theory of Money
• EC 39: Austrian Definitions of the Supply of Money
• EC 42: Inflation and the Business Cycle: The Collapse of the Keynesian Paradigm
• SC IV-4: Fisher’s Equation of Exchange: A Critique
• SC IV-8: Letter on Henry Hazlitt and Keynes
• SC IV-10: Review of Lionel Robbins, The Great Depression

11:45 a.m. Lunch at Institute

Session 6

1:15-2:15 p.m. Professional Strategies, Career Advice, and Current Research Topics (Klein)

2:30-4:15 p.m. Discussion

4:15 Research time

5:00 p.m.  Bookstore closes

5:30 p.m.  Dinner at Institute

9:00 p.m.  Mises libraries close

Thursday, June 12

8:30 Shuttle from AU Hotel to Mises Institute; Contintental Breakfast at Institute; Bookstore open

Session 7

9:00-10:00 a.m. Lecture: Monetary Theory (Herbener)

10:15-11:45 a.m. Discussion

• EC 38: Money, the State, and Modern Mercantilism
• EC 40: Gold vs Fluctuating Fiat Exchange Rates
• EC 41: The Case For a Genuine Gold Dollar
• EC 46: The Myth of Free Banking in Scotland
• EC 47: Aurophobia: Or, Free Banking on What Standard?

11:45 a.m. Lunch at Institute

Session 8

1:15-2:15 p.m. Lecture: Comparative Economic Systems (Thornton)

2:30-4:15 p.m. Discussion

• EC 32: Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor
• EC 34: Mercantilism: A Lesson for Our Times? EC 35: Capitalism versus Statism
• EC 23: How and How Not to Desocialize
• EC 36: A Future of Peace and Capitalism
• EC 44: Ludwig von Mises and Economic Calculation Under Socialism
• EC 45: The End of Socialism and the Calculation Debate Revisited

4:15 p.m. Research time

5:00 p.m.  Bookstore closes

5:30 p.m.  Dinner at Institute

9:00 p.m.  Mises libraries close

Friday, June 13

8:30 Shuttle from AU Hotel to Mises Institute; Contintental Breakfast at Institute; Bookstore open

Session 9

9:00-10:00 a.m. Lecture: Property Rights and the Public Sector (Gordon)

10:15-11:45 a.m. Discussion

• EC 18: The Politics of Political Economists
• EC 19: Justice and Property Rights
• EC 20: Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution
• EC 21: The Fallacy of the “Public Sector”
• EC 51: Buchanan and Tullock’s The Calculus of Consent
• EC 22: Statistics: Achilles’s Heel of Government

11:45 a.m. Lunch at Institute

Session 10

1:15-2:15 p.m. Lecture: Current Debates, Critiques, Wrap-up (Salerno)

2:30-4:15 p.m. Discussion

• EC 11: Ludwig von Mises and the Paradigm for Our Age
• EC 10: The Present State of Austrian Economics
• EC 48: Milton Friedman Unraveled
• EC 49: Paul Samuelson’s Economics, Ninth Edition
• EC 50: Heilbroner’s Economic Means and Social Ends
• SC III-6: Review of Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790–18604:15 Research time

4:15 p.m. Research time

5:00 p.m.  Bookstore closes

5:30 p.m.  Dinner at Institute

9:00 p.m.  Mises libraries close