Ludwig von Mises on Money and Inflation.pdf - The Ludwig von ...

Introduction
Upon the establishment of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
in 1946, <strong>Ludwig</strong> <strong>von</strong> <strong>Mises</strong> became a part-time adviser, and he served in
that capacity until his death in 1973. Whenever FEE held a seminar in
Irvington, if he was in town he would drive out from New York City, where
he lived with his wife, Margit, to speak to the participants. His topic was
quite often inflation. I attended all those lectures, took them down in
shorthand and later transcribed them. e thought occurred to me that
eight to ten of his lectures on inflation, delivered in the 1960s, might be
integrated, with the duplications deleted, and turned into a single piece.
Hence this paper.
<strong>Mises</strong> did not like to have his oral remarks quoted or published because,
obviously, they did not represent the care and precision he devoted
to his writings. However, it does not seem to me that these lectures, as I
have edited them, misrepresent his ideas in any way. Moreover, they reveal
his unpretentious manner and the informal simple style he used when
talking to students. He often rephrased an idea in several different ways,
repeating it for emphasis. He was frequently accused of being “simplistic,”
of making economic subjects appear too clear and simple, but it was
this very approach that made it possible for persons, even those without
any background in economics, to understand and appreciate what he was
saying.
Bettina Bien Greaves
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