CONK!
Murray Rothbard was born on March 2, 1926 and died on January 7, 1995. I had the great honor of having Rothbard on my dissertation committee when I was a Ph.D. student at Rutgers.
In fact, I owe Rothbard a huge thank you because my dissertation topic jumped out at me when I read his 900-page economic treatise, Man, Economy, and State. He described how new money enters an economy and then “diffuses” throughout a country. My dissertation on the “geography of inflation” highlighted how price inflation is uneven around the country because of the diffusion of new money.
It was 50 years ago last month that I plowed through his treatise and then read all his books and monographs he had written up until that time and everything since then before he passed away suddenly 29 years ago.
After I read MES, I wrote him a letter inviting him to be a member of my dissertation committee but did not hear back from him. In April (1974) I drove from Rutgers (New Brunswick, NJ campus) to downtown Brooklyn, where Rothbard was teaching at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. I waited at his office and in a few minutes a short, bespectacled middle-aged man came into his office. I introduced myself and he invited me to sit in on his Microeconomics class. His teaching style was superb as he showed students the counterproductive effects of government intervention.
After the class we went to his office, and I told him the reason I stopped by. He was thrilled to learn that I was going to write a dissertation on the geography of inflation and soon it felt like we had known each other for years. Rothbard was unpretentious and joyful. We said our goodbyes and told him I would be in touch.
A few weeks later I received an invitation, on his recommendation, to attend an economics conference in Vermont that would be devoted to the Austrian School of Economics. In three weeks, there will be an economic conference at the Mises Institute including a panel discussion on the impact the 1974 conference had on the lives of the young graduate students who attended.
You can celebrate Rothbard’s birthday here and pick up one of his most influential monographs. And you can learn from the great economist, historian, and libertarian philosopher by reading his prolific collection of writings.
I am eternally grateful for having met Murray Rothbard and for his encouragement, kindness, generosity, and friendship.
It is for these reasons Murray Rothbard is the first posthumous Mensch of the Month. ***********************************
Every Wednesday at 11:05am talk show host Gary Nolan and I discuss the economy and politics. The Fort Myers Mises Circle presentations are available online.
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Murray Sabrin, PhD, is emeritus professor of finance, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Dr. Sabrin is considered a “public intellectual” for writing about the economy in scholarly and popular publications. His new book, The Finance of Health Care: Wellness and Innovative Approaches to Employee Medical Insurance (Business Expert Press, Oct. 24, 2022), and his other BEP publication, Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide (October 2021), provides decision makers with tools needed to help manage their businesses during the inexecrable business cycle. Sabrin’s autobiography, From Immigrant to Public Intellectual: An American Story, was published in November, 2022.
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