Related: Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “Javier Milei” (PFS 2024)
Resignation from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany
On 13 July 2025, Prof. Dr. Rolf W. Puster, Prof. Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann and Prof. Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe declared their resignation from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany. Only two of the original five members remain on that Board.
Below, Puster, Hülsmann and Hoppe explain the reasons for their resignation.
At the beginning of July, the board of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany (hereinafter MIG) announced on the Institute’s website that a ‘Memorial Prize in honour of Ludwig von Mises’ would be created in October of this year and awarded to Argentine President Javier Milei. Neither the creation of the prize (which, incidentally, is the only prize ever awarded by MIG) nor the selection of the laureate were discussed in advance with the Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board. Not only is this bad style, it also gives the public the impression that these decisions have the backing of the Board. This is not the case.
Javier Milei has demonstrated that it is possible to win electoral majorities for radical libertarian policies in economically advanced countries. This is undoubtedly a significant achievement. After his election, he immediately set about dismantling the state and, in many respects, he has pursued this policy more resolutely, more extensively and more successfully than any of his Argentine predecessors.
Nevertheless, we consider the awarding of this prize to him to be unjustified. In our view, a ‘Memorial Prize in honour of Ludwig von Mises’ could be awarded to scientists or politicians who have rendered outstanding services to the development, dissemination or application of Mises’ ideas. It is obvious that Javier Milei is not a scientist, but a politician. It is true that he has made the names of Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard and other thinkers of the Austrian School known to a wider public. But his knowledge of their ideas and theories is superficial and flawed, and his praise is therefore double-edged. In any case, we can only advise the public not to regard Milei’s statements on economic philosophy as authoritative.
Javier Milei could therefore be honoured on the basis of his political activities. However, in this case, his work must be measured in terms of long-term practical achievements. It is not enough that he pursue liberal goals with his policies. Rather, the political means must be objectively suitable for actually achieving those goals. This should be self-evident, but it is often disregarded in politics, as Ludwig von Mises repeatedly pointed out. Milei’s policies are a case in point.
For one thing, Milei is at the beginning of his political career. The future success of his policies to date is highly questionable, and he may still take many wrong turns in the course of his term in office. No one knows how freedom-oriented they will ultimately prove to be. The assessment of his actions must be differentiated and open-ended. This simply cannot be done after twenty months in office.
On the other hand, whatever successes his policies may have had so far have been largely achieved through the usual means of inflationary government financing, i.e. by inflating the money supply and government debt. It remains to be seen whether this strategy will succeed under Milei, given that it has repeatedly and for good reasons failed in Argentina and other countries in the past.
In addition, all the achievements of his political record to date are already offset by major liabilities: the political centralisation of the country, the expansion of the police state, the failure to implement the announced abolition of the central bank (one of the most popular points in his election programme), the haggling with the country’s traditional political elites, who also dominate his cabinet, and a foreign policy that is not geared towards international peace and is therefore not a libertarian policy.
Today, Javier Milei stands not only for inflation-financed radical economic policies with an uncertain outcome. He also stands for uncritical and downright enthusiastic solidarity with the current governments of the United States and Israel.
In our opinion, awarding Javier Milei a ‘Memorial Prize in Honour of Ludwig von Mises’ therefore has the potential to cause lasting and irreparable damage to the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany, as well as to the Austrian School as a whole.
We cannot and will not take responsibility for this. We therefore declare our resignation from the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany.
13 July 2025
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