Mises University 2016 is ON!

Way more exiting than the Olympics is obviously Mises University. I’m so incredibly happy and grateful to be here, among seriously brilliant minds and more people than I have time to talk to! Over lunch I get into crazy hectic debates about the Austrian Business Cycle Theory; during social hours I interview the best professors; in the evenings I pick the brains of smart grad students and professors who so generously give of their time, experiences and knowledge.

Short intro: Mises University is a yearly summer event at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, where hundreds of students of Austrian Economics come together every year to listen to top-quality lectures in fields ranging from Monetary Theory and Austrian Subjectivity to Socialism and Development Economics and the Euro Crisis (most of these incredible lectures are streamed live on Youtube). Most of the hot-shots in the Austrian world are present and generously give of their time, inspiration and wealth of knowledge, all under the scorching 38-degrees-celsius Alabama sun.

Predictably, this is beyond amazing. This is lowly little me hanging out with my idols, 10-year-old soccer nerd meeting Messi. Adjective-defyingly amazing, in other words. Among all the networking, serious discussions, great laughter and lectures (about a thousand times the quality of anything Glasgow or Sydney could have given me) I'm doing interviews for the Swedish Mises Institute, writing about the general experience as well as adding to my growing list of Great Speakers. Busy week. Here is a brief overview of the highlights from the first two days.

Tim Terrell, with his charming southern accent and striking Tom Hanks-looks, absolutely destroyed the objections people have towards capitalism. Jeff Herbener & David Howden subsequently gave us two illuminating and entertaining lectures about fractional reserve banking. The great Joseph Salerno outlined the importance of market prices as tools of calculation for entrepreneurs, especially in the light of the socialist calculation debate of the 1930s, a topic I have previously written about. However, the best lecture this far, hands-down was Benjamin Powell on Sweatshops! I've seen him on Youtube before, listened to podcast and read his works etc., but live is simply so much better. I'll find him for a chat later on.

All in all, like Tom Woods always says: this is the best week of the year.