Jörg Guido Hülsmann (; born 18 May 1966) is a German-born economist who studies issues related to money, banking, monetary policy, macroeconomics, and financial markets. Hülsmann is professor of economics at the University of Angers’ School of Law, Economics, and Management.
He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. He is a vice-president of the international Property and Freedom Society, a board member of the Association des économistes catholiquesAssociation des économistes catholiques website, accessed at 2017-06-21 in France, and a scientific board member of the Hayek-GesellschaftFriedrich A. von Hayek-Gesellschaft website, accessed at 2017-06-21 in Germany, of the Austrian Institute of Economics and Social Philosophy,Austrian Institute of Economics and Social Philosophy website, accessed at 2017-06-21 and of the International Academy for PhilosophyInternationale Akademie für Philosophie website, accessed at 2017-06-21 in Liechtenstein. Hülsmann has been the inaugural laureate of the international Franz Čuhel Prize for Excellence in Economic EducationPrague Conference on Political Economy website , accessed at 2017-06-21 and the 2023 laureate of the Hayek-Medaille.German Hayek Society website, accessed at 2024-08-07
Economists such as Eugen-Maria Schulak and Herbert Unterköfler consider him to be one of the most important contemporary Austrian economists in Europe, next to Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Jesús Huerta de Soto.See E.-M. Schulak and H. Unterköfler, The Austrian School of Economics: A History of Its Ideas, Ambassadors, and Institutions (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011), p. 175. In the wider heterodox-economics community striving for pluralism in economics he is regarded as a leading expert and speaker.See L. Fischer et al., Rethinking Economics (London: Routledge, 2017), chap. 3. The Glasgow Economic Forum 2017 website portrays hims as "one of the foremost Austrian economists in the world, most well-known for his work on fiat money, inflation and culture. His 2007 thousand-page long detailed biography of Ludwig von Mises and his 2008 award-winning book The Ethics of Money Production are among the most-read not just for those interested in Austrian economics but for every aspiring economist." In the French weekly news magazine, L'Express (5 Jan. 2011) , accessed at 2017-06-22, he is portrayed as one of ten scholars who "boost research and higher education in Angers." He has been interviewed in various media outlets all throughout Europe.See for example his interviews with the Slovak magazine .týždeň (23 Oct. 2016) on the end of globalism and the rise of populist movements, accessed at 2017-06-26; with national German public radio broadcaster (Deutschlandradio, transcript online, accessed at 2017-06-26); with Wirtschaftswoche magazine on inequality resulting from the monetary system: "Das Währungssystem ist Schuld an wachsender Ungleichheit" (5 May 2014) , accessed at 2017-06-28; with Die Freie Welt on the Euro crisis (18 Sept. 2014) , accessed at 2017-06-28; with the Lithuanian business magazine IQ (21 Dec. 2011), accessed at 2017-06-29.
Life Hülsmann went to high school in a town with "the highest communist voter percentage in all of Western Germany" and started public speaking at the age of 15.See Jeff Deist and Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Today's Leading Mises Scholar on the Man and His Legacy (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2018), p. 4. After mandatory military service, he went on to study industrial engineering (Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) at Technische Universität Berlin, from 1986 to 1992. In the 1991–92 academic year, he participated in an exchange program with Toulouse Business School in France. There he wrote a thesis comparing the neo-marxist regulation school to the ordo-liberal Freiburg School. He also started studying the writings of the Austrian School. After the year in Toulouse, he returned to Berlin for doctoral studies under Hans-Hermann Lechner and obtained his PhD in economics in 1996.See his February 2019 address to the Hayek Club in Berlin, accessed at 2019-03-23. In January 1997, Lew Rockwell commissioned Hülsmann to write a Mises biography, a project that he would eventually complete in 2007. In 2004, he was appointed to a full professorship at the University of Angers.
Academic authorship Hülsmann is the author of eight books, has edited or co-edited six other books, and published numerous journal articles and book chapters. His writings have been translated into twenty languages.See the University of Angers website listing his scholarly output as from 2010, accessed at 2017-06-21; Hülsmann’s website listing his current papers and books, accessed at 2017-06-21; his portrait at the Online Library of Liberty website , accessed at 2017-06-22
His 2008 book The Ethics of Money ProductionOnline at google books has been translated into German, French, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Chinese, Persian, Spanish, and Turkish. His 2007 book Mises – The Last Knight of LiberalismOnline at google books has been translated into Russian, Chinese, and Polish. Both books received numerous reviews and made it into Barron's recommended reading lists.Barron's (17 Dec. 2007) , accessed at 2017-06-22, and Barron's (14 Dec. 2009) , accessed at 2017-06-22
The Last Knight of Liberalism is the only full-blown biography of Ludwig von Mises and Hülsmann’s most-cited publication.Google Scholar website, accessed at 2017-06-21 It received a slating from Bruce Caldwell,See B. Caldwell, "History in the Service of Ideology" , History of Economic Ideas, vol. 16, no. 3 (2008), accessed at 2017-06-22 while the other reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Economic historian Robert Higgs praised it as "a magnificent scholarly achievement."Mises Institute website , accessed at 2017-06-22 In a lengthy review, the German national newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, called it "a literary event" and considered the work to "set standards" of biographical work.F.A.Z. (12 Oct. 2007), p. 22, accessed at 2017-06-22 In September 2016, the Renmin University of China organized a full-day conference around the Chinese edition of the book.Renmin University of China website , accessed at 2017-06-22. See also his interview with China Radio International's Beijing News (31 Dec. 2016) , accessed at 2017-06-26.
In his 2024 book Abundance, Generosity, and the State, he studies the different ways through which economic goods are gratuitously provided and received .Google Scholar website, accessed at 2024-05-05 Philosopher David Gordon praised the book with these words: "It is rare to encounter a book that has the potential to reshape the way we look at economics, but Guido Hülsmann has done exactly that in Abundance, Generosity, and the State. Hülsmann is one of the leading theorists of the Austrian School, but he has always looked at issues in an original way, and that quality is manifested 'abundantly' in this outstanding book."Book review on Mises Institute website , accessed at 2024-05-05
He has also become known as an economist who correctly anticipated the financial crisis of 2001;See M. Thornton, "Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?" , The Independent Review, vol. IX, no. 1 (2004), accessed at 2017-06-22 as a staunch critic of fractional-reserve banking;See the featured debates between Hülsmann and fractional-reserve banking advocates L.H White and G. Selgin in The Independent Review (vol. VII, no. 3, 2003) and in The Independent Review (vol. V, no. 1, 2000) , accessed at 2017-06-26. as a critic of the time-preference theory of interest;See J.M. Herbener’s and J.P. Gunning’s critique of Hülsmann: J.M. Herbener, “Introduction” The Pure Time Preference Theory of Interest (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011), pp. 56ff, accessed at 2017-06-21; J.P. Gunning in Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (vol. 8, no. 3, 2014), accessed at 2017-06-21. The reference text is J.G. Hülsmann, “A Theory of Interest” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (vol. 5, no. 4, 2002), accessed at 2017-06-21. for his "reconsideration" of Austrian Capital Theory, opening new perspectives on the venerable Cambridge capital controversy;See M. Machaj, "The Interest Rate and the Length of Production" Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, vol. 18, no. 3 (2015), accessed at 2017-06-22; J.R. Rallo, "Las (incopletas) aportaciones de Hülsmann a la theoria austriaca del capital" Rallo's website , accessed at 2017-06-22; and the in-depth discussion on Meng Hu's Blog, accessed at 2017-06-22. These discussions refer to J.G. Hülsmann, "The Structure of Production Reconsidered" (University of Angers: GRANEM working paper 2010), accessed 2017-06-22. and as a proponent of the idea that economic laws are counterfactual a priori laws, rather than empirical regularities.See E.P. Stringham and R. Gonzales’ critique of Hülsmann in Journal des économistes et des études humaines (vol. 15, no. 1, 2009) , accessed at 2017-06-21. The reference text is J.G. Hülsmann, “Facts and Counterfactuals in Economic Law” Journal of Libertarian Studies (vol. 17, no. 1, 2003), accessed at 2017-06-21.
Teaching Hülsmann directs an English-language master’s program in Law and Finance,University of Angers website, accessed at 2024-08-07 and co-directs a double-major bachelor program in Law and Economics (in French)University of Angers website, accessed at 2024-08-07 at the University of Angers. He has directed doctoral theses at the University of Angers and been involved in doctoral research at other universities.French doctoral dissertation search engine , accessed at 2024-08-07; Hülsmann's website, accessed at 2024-08-07
He is also a frequent guest professor at Grove City College, the college at which the great economics professor Jeffery Herbener oversees the economics department, where in 2025 Jorg Guido Hulsman gave talks about the economics of inheritance and intervention, and he has taught at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, (Romania), at Loyola University New Orleans, at CEVRO Institute in Prague (Czech Republic), at the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid (Spain), at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius (Lithuania), and various other academic institutions.University of Angers website, accessed at 2017-06-21.
Journalism Hülsmann has written for various press outlets in Europe, for example, for national magazines such as Schweizer Monat, La Tribune, Die Zeit, and Der Standard, and for business magazines such as Wirtschaftswoche.See for example "Der Sozialstaat lässt die Gesellschaft menschlich verarmen"Wirtschaftswoche (21 November 2023), accessed at 2024-08-07; "Weg mit dem Kuschelkapitalismus!" Wirtschaftswoche (17 March 2017), accessed at 2017-06-28; "Besser ohne Staat" Die Zeit (13 Jan. 2010), accessed at 2017-06-28; "Wozu Rettingspakete?" Schweizer Monat (Dec. 2008), accessed 2017-06-28. For several years, he has authored a monthly column for the German libertarian magazine, eigentümlich frei.eigentümlich frei website, accessed at 2017-06-21
Translations Hülsmann has translated or co-translated Murray N. Rothbard’s books The Ethics of LibertyM.N. Rothbard, Die Ethik der Freiheit (4th ed., 2013) and What Has Government Done to Our Money?,M.N. Rothbard, Das Schein-Geld-System (2nd ed., 2005) Ralph Raico’s Die Partei der FreiheitR. Raico, Die Partei der Freiheit (1999) and Ludwig von Mises’ Bureaucracy,L.v. Mises, Die Bürokratie (3rd ed., 2013) as well as Gustave de Molinari's De la production de la sécuritéG. de Molinari, Produktion von Sicherheit (2015) into German.
See also Austrian School of economics Hans-Hermann Hoppe Israel Kirzner Murray Rothbard
References
External links
Jörg Guido Hülsmann at the Ludwig von Mises Institute (essays, lectures, audiobooks, etc.)