The Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn named its new president earlier this week after a months-long search.
The Mises Institute is a free-market think-tank located across from Auburn University on West Magnolia Avenue. The institute’s namesake, Ludwig von Mises, was an economist famous for his criticism of socialism and arguments in favor of classical liberalism.
Mises fled from Nazi-occupied Austria to the United States in 1940. He mentored economist and political theorist Murray Rothbard, who helped Lew Rockwell start the Mises Institute in 1982.
The Mises Institute announced On Monday that Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo would become its next president. DiLorenzo, a career economist, academic and speaker, will fill the position formerly held by Jeff Deist, who left in April to become general counsel for Monetary Metals & Co.
DiLorenzo obtained his Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, now Virginia Tech, before serving as an economics professor for over 40 years. He has held several faculty positions nationwide, such as at Loyola University, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, George Mason University, Washington University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Now, DiLorenzo will settle in Auburn to take on his new role.
“I’ve been going to Auburn for 35 years, once or twice a year,” he told 1819 News on Tuesday. “I’ve always liked Auburn. It’s one of my favorite towns. It’s very different now, of course, than it was 30 years ago. But I still like it a lot … I’m very happy to be moving there.”
Rockwell was also excited to have DiLorenzo come aboard.
“Tom DiLorenzo is a brilliant scholar, writer, and speaker and has long been dedicated to the Mises Institute’s mission,” said Rockwell. “We’re delighted that Dr. DiLorenzo will be joining us as our next president. His scholarship, leadership abilities, and commitment to the cause of liberty make him the ideal person to continue the excellent work of the Institute. He joins us after a thorough and comprehensive search led by the Board of Directors.”
The Mises Institute is committed to educating the public about the Austrian school of economics, which DiLorenzo said earned its name from the economists who started it, such as Mises and Friedrich Hayek, who were Austrian. Now, there are Austrian economists from all over the world.
“There was a student of Hayek … who put it this way,” DiLorenzo said. “[Austrian economics] is about how markets work, and governments do not. It’s essentially the study using economic theory and economic reasoning to understand how the economic world works and also why it is that governments always seem to make things worse.”
DiLorenzo encouraged Alabamians to connect with the Mises Institute by going to Mises.org, which he insisted was “the best website in the world.”
“Just look around,” he said. “There are listings of events, and you can come to Auburn for one of the events. And there’s a huge online library. You can get a great economic education just on that.”
“I used to tell my college students that you could probably get a better college education just by reading the articles on the website every day than if you were an economics major at almost any major university in America,” he continued. “… You don’t have to become a Ph.D. or anything like that, but it makes you a better citizen to have some idea, some understanding, about how the economic world works and how government doesn’t work.”
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