NOTE: You can enroll in a course using the Paypal method even if you do not have a Paypal account. The Paypal method accepts regular credit cards.
The heart of Austrian economics is its theory of value, exchange, production, and market intervention, what we typically call “price theory” or “microeconomics.” Austrian microeconomics was introduced by Carl Menger and developed and extended by his Austrian, British, and American followers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Unlike his contemporaries Walras and Jevons, Menger focused not only on the principle of marginal analysis, but also on the subjective, human aspects of valuation and the scientific principle of cause and effect. As such, Austrian price theory is substantially different from the microeconomics of contemporary, neoclassical textbooks.
This course provides a systematic overview of Austrian microeconomics, starting with the basic of scarcity, choice, and value; then moving to exchange and demand; the determination of prices; factor markets and factor pricing (including labor); profit, loss, and the entrepreneur; the structure of production; and competition and monopoly. The emphasis is theoretical, but we focus on principles that apply broadly to everyday, ordinary economic problems and include several brief case studies. The main text is Milton M. Shapiro, Foundations of the Market-Price System (University Press of America, 1985), supplemented by sections from Thomas C. Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1980) and Percy L. Greaves, Jr., Understanding the Dollar Crisis (Western Islands Publishers, 1973).
Lectures
The video lectures are online. Lectures will be Thursday evenings, 6:30 – 8:00 pm Eastern Time. They will be recorded and made available for enrolled students to download. The weekly lectures will start July 5, and will take July 26 off.
Reading:
All readings will be free and online. A full hyper-linked syllabus with readings for each weekly topic will be available for all students.
Grades and Certificates
The final grade will depend on quizzes. Taking the course for a grade is optional. This course is worth 3 credits in our own internal system. Feel free to ask your school to accept Mises Academy credits. You will receive a digital Certificate of Completion for this course if you take it for a grade, and a Certificate of Participation if you take it on a paid-audit basis.
Refund Policy
If you drop the course during its first week (7 calendar days), you will receive a full refund, minus a $25 processing fee. If you drop the course during its second week, you will receive a half refund. No refunds will be granted following the second week.
