The Mises Institute strongly encourages all students attending Mises U to be familiar with the Required Readings found here. Whether I go to Mises U or not (still hoping it will work out!) I will try do the readings. Last year I wrote out a schedule for getting through all the books, and I thought I would post my updated version for the students I know who wondering how to tackle it. Anyone else is welcome to read through all this too. :)

Theoretically I would start the reading in March. However…that didn’t happen this year. But my schedule starts in March anyways. These are just suggestions and are based on what I was doing last year. I’ll be changing this to fit my life this year. I just hope it helps you to come up with a definite plan so we aren’t trying frantically to read everything the day before Mises U starts, a plight I narrowly escaped last year. :)

March:

- “What is Austrian Economics?”
- “Economic Science and the Austrian Method” – Hoppe

Why: The first reading is pretty much the basics. It is good to start with this. Hoppe’s book is a nice complement to it because 1) it is a little deeper reading and 2) it really shows exactly why the Austrian school is different than all the other schools; not so much in what they teach but in how they obtain knowledge. This helped me understand why the Austrians are so much more awesome than everyone else ;)

April:

- “Social Science and Natural Science” – Mises
- “Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics” – Gordon

Why: The Mises work, as I recall, builds on and complements the Hoppe reading from March. The Gordon piece is a natural progression from “What is Austrian Economics?” in March.

May:

- “Intro to Austrian Economics” – Thomas Taylor
- “Realism and Abstraction in Economics” – Roderick Long

Why: From “What is Austrian Economics?” David Gordon focused on the history of it and now the Taylor essay/book is explaining what makes Austrian economic theory different from other schools. I found the first few pages of “Realism and Abstraction in Economics” to be totally fascinating and I absolutely loved the beginning. As a side note, there are some books that I struggle through at the beginning (like Moby Dick) but end up enjoying. Other times I start a work enjoying it, but then get lost by the end. That’s what happened last year with Long’s work, no offense at all to him. I’m hopeful that this year I might pick up a bit more of it. But it is balanced with the more purely economic Taylor book and that helps.

June:

- “Liberty and Property” – Mises
- “Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism” – Mises
- “What Has the Government Done With Our Money?” – Rothbard
- “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth” - Mises

Why: I graduated from highschool in May of last year, and so obviously had much more time in June for reading which is why I allocated more work for the summer months. That would also be the case for any college students. The Mises works listed this month are fairly short and they are balanced by an easier (but longer) Rothbard book. As you probably noticed, all the Mises essays have to do with socialism and private ownership of property. I haven’t read the Rothbard one yet (I think they added that since last year…or maybe I read it online last year, I have the hardcopy now) and so I’m not sure how well it fits into the socialism vs. free market subject that the Mises essays address.

July:

- “Praxeology and Understanding” – Selgin
- “Historical Setting of the Austrian School” – Mises
- “Mises and the Role of the Economist in Public Policy” – Mises
- “Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays” – various
- “Against Intellectual Property” – Kinsella

Why: I can’t remember what I was thinking about these works last March…so I can only assume they were the only ones left after I had distributed the rest in other months. :) The Kinsella book has been added since last year, so I just threw it in here. I’ve already read it this year, so I don’t have to worry about it. :)